#art like this always does worse than my dumb comics

[krazieka2]

Assassins!! They’re friends!!!!

[genericpuff]

Why is the art so unappealing in lore Olympus now Persephone looks like a highlighter and maybe it’s just me but the proportions like the fingers in arms are soul over the place I don’t think they used to be this bad. Am I just looking at it with nostalgia or am I crazy ?

Honestly, nostalgia does play a huge part in it, even to this day there are times I look back on old S1 panels and go-

Actually here's a great example that literally just happened yesterday in the ULO Discord that nearly had me on the floor LOL This is from Episode 70:

Like I didn't even believe that that was real until I was told what episode it was from and I was just. Astounded and flabbergasted. The over-shading of the blanket that just makes it look like a really bad edit. Insane.

And yeah, there are a lot of old panels that hit different now that the rose-colored glasses have been removed, crushed, and thrown into the trash compactor.

I think that's why it makes it all the more amusing when people come into my inbox and ask me "wait, why did you like LO to begin with?? It's always been ugly as shit, I think you're just romanticizing it" because like... there's something to be said about art and subjectivity, even if something is ugly to one person doesn't mean it isn't beautiful to someone else. It's why I try not to be too mean towards the fans of this comic for still enjoying it, because while I definitely have strong opinions about how "LO has gotten worse" and what kind of following Rachel has cultivated (cough cough), there are also just as equally valid arguments that LO has never begin good to begin with that I can't necessarily disagree with now that I'm looking back on it with a more critical eye.

That said, there's tons of media that I enjoy that is objectively awful. Like y'all, you don't need to take my opinions about a dumb pink x blue fantasy romance comic seriously, I like Starfox Adventures-

Like yeah it's a badly made rushed piece of shit that was developed right on the ass end of Rare's glory days and was really an original IP (Dinosaur Planet) that got Frankenstein'd into a Starfox game so it could "sell better" for Nintendo, but I don't give a fuck, I love Starfox Adventures and some day I wanna be in the top 10 speedrunner leaderboards for it, which I know doesn't mean much because no one is speedrunning Starfox, but I do and no one can take that away from me dammit-

Anyways. Lore Olympus has, in many regards, always had "bad art". But "bad art" can and should still be enjoyed by those who find joy in it.

And in LO's case, the world it existed in when it launched was a lot smaller than it is now - more specifically, the world of Webtoons. We can look back and see how 'bad' LO looks and reads now because there are genuinely way better comics surrounding it. It was unique and refreshing and experimental back then... now it's just "that stupid blue and pink comic for horny teenagers".

In most cases I would consider that "cringing in hindsight" feeling a good thing because normally it means something has grown and that it seeming "bad" in hindsight would mean that it's outgrown itself and moved onto bigger things. But LO has the more unique problem of "its current stuff is shit and it's making us want the old stuff more, even if the old stuff wasn't good either". In that regard, LO is closer to being like Harry Potter. Remember when The Cursed Child came out at the height of Rowling being exposed for being a TERF and even people who liked Harry Potter didn't like The Cursed Child because it was just objectively worse overall (with or without Rowling's bullshit attached)? It made a lot of people go back and re-read / rewatch Harry Potter with a more objective lens and go "wait a minute guys, I think we only adored these books so much because we were 12 when we read them". Often times it's the good memories we have surrounding certain things that make us have the opinion about them that we do.

Of course, LO is definitely not as politically weaponized as Harry Potter is, so that's where that comparison ends. But my point is that LO is definitely in a situation where it's been riding off the same privileges it had back in 2018 - having an 'experimental' art style while also utilizing tropes and characters that were VERY popular at the time (remember that 2017-18 was when Tumblr was at its height of H x P "Hades was a chill accountant guy who wore socks and sandals and didn't cheat on his wife like Zeus did" fantasizing) - and thinks that those same tricks and tropes will still work today.

Because of this, the art in LO really, really hasn't aged well, even the stuff that we look back on fondly. But I think it's the panels that we specifically think of when remembering "old LO" - the ones that stuck in our memories the most - that are the ones that make us miss or just not care about the panels that don't look good (the panels that make people question why we ever liked it to begin with).

We liked it because of how it made us feel to look at panels like these-

Those genuinely wonderful panels that we think back on the most don't exist separately from the bad panels, they exist in spite of them. Even if we can look back on panels like these and pick out problems in the lineart or the proportions or the color travelling outside of the lines, that can't and shouldn't change how those panels made us feel at some point or another. And that's why when people ask me "why were you even into LO in the first place" I don't have any one answer, because I can't fully explain how something made me feel to justify why it's good to someone who can see from the outside - without rose-colored glasses - that it evidently isn't. It's very much a "you had to be there" type of thing.

Unfortunately, nowadays even the 'best' LO panels in S3 still don't come close to what the S1 panels accomplished - because for many of us, the rose-colored glasses are gone, we can't appreciate the good among the bad because we know now how bad it truly is and so the good just feels like wasted attempts at trying to recreate something it can no longer be. It "came back wrong" so to speak.

LO came back just regular. But our journey to resurrecting it changed us to such a degree that even its closest intimacies are now foreign to us. Sorry dude.

This is still probably one of my favorite panels out of the entirety of S3 for being as close to "old LO" as I've seen since S2, and even it feels like a mistake, an accident, how could a panel like this exist in S3 when so much of it is a dumpster fire? It's like a flower growing in the ruins of an apocalyptic wasteland.

But wasn't that always the case? Isn't that 'always' what LO has been, since the very beginning? A poorly cobbled together mess of writing and panels that, every now and then, manages to leave an impression that makes you feel something? Did we ever truly know LO? Or have we just been relying entirely on an idea of it that we've built up in our heads that when it does do exactly what it's evidently always done (even if not made apparent until looking back on it in hindsight) we think it "came back wrong"?

[feeshies]

this was going to be a longer post critiquing a video essay i watched a while back, but then i realized that i don't care so i'm boiling it down to a central point:

why is fanart never brought up in the fanfiction debate?

"is fanfiction art?" "is fanfiction dumbing down literature?" "is fanfiction making you a worse writer?"

other than art teachers shaming students for only drawing their anime ocs, i've never heard the same shit thrown towards fanartists (at least not in the 2010s-20s).

an artist can post a hyper realistic charcoal portrait of batman and get a giant boost to their portfolio, but a writer's 200k long batman fic is "ruining literature as we know it"

and fanart can have the same limitations that fanfic has. the same way that writing fanfiction doesn't always encourage ground-up worldbuilding, drawing fanart doesn't always encourage ground-up character design or non-character elements of art like backgrounds, objects, etc.

as someone who does equal parts fanart and fanfiction, this divide is so weird to me. it's all art. i share my work in the same space. but when i tell people that i draw, i never feel the need to add "well, it's mostly just fanart tho :/" because of the stigma.

and it becomes even blurrier when you consider fancomics or multimedia fics. for one of my longfics, i post each chapter with a illustration of a specific scene. so where are the lines? is the illustration art while the chapter itself isn't? is the illustration not art due to association? when i made my fancomic, were the panels art while the text in the speech bubbles weren't? what about the comic's script? did it not count as art until i put the text into images?

idk, it's dumb

[ryuichirou]

Hey hun. So, I wanna ask, how does this last chapter made you feel?

For me I felt angry, then disappointed, then I just gave up lol. I'm gonna separate my Eren from whoever was that in chapter 139.

Also, will you stop making Ereri works? Pls don't! Your Ereri arts are what give me the zeal to write fanfics. Heck, it's because I saw one of them that I had the courage to dabble in this ship.

Sorry for the long ass message.

+

Anonymous said:

Coming for an AOT fan who isn't a shipper and from someone who likes Eren's character but doesn't see him as a big bad or Saint. The whole him being in love with Mikasa the whole time feels so freaking out of no where. And again not pissed cause of ships or stuff like that. I just feel like this is fan pandering.

Anonymous said:

I'm so confused...Eren didn't shed a tear when he sent that titan to kill his mom but he immediately broke down into tears on the ground when he heard that Mikasa might marry another man. What is going on...I guess I never understood his character after all sigh.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hooooo boy ok here we go.

We don’t think that it was necessarily an Eremika moment. Hear me out.

Is it possible to interpret it as “I guess Eren likes Mikasa romantically” and call it a day? Of course. But I think it’s a huge disservice to both characters to just end it at that and tie Eren’s motivation to wanting nothing but to be with Mikasa, because in that case he would’ve ran away and we would’ve had ourselves that cottagecore fantasy from the last chapter.

The thing is, it hadn’t even clicked as an Eremika romance confirmation to us before we read people’s reaction to it. We just laughed at how Eren throwing a tantrum is similar to how we see him – he’s being so hilariously selfish and capricious there.

We think Eren doesn’t want to die and be forgotten, and he knows that he is going to be forgotten eventually once his friends move on. And Mikasa loves him more than anyone in the world, so if even she moves on, it’d mean that no one is going to think about him anymore. Dying is scary, and what I see is a childish “I don’t want Mikasa to move on, I want her to think about me and I don’t care if I sound like a dick”, not “I want to kiss and hug Mikasa and actually I’ve been in love with her for years”.

I’m not sure why people are tying the rumbling to Mikasa and talk about how Eren simping for her resulted in this mess. It’s always been about Eren’s closest friends whom he wants to be happy and live a long life. He said it himself, and the story was heavily hinting on it, so Eren’s confession about all of it being for his gang didn’t surprise us at all. He just gave her a present (that dumb fantasy thing) as a means of gratitude for killing him and, more importantly, freeing Ymir, something along the lines.

We also need to keep in mind Isayama’s intentions in all of it: frankly, we don’t know for sure what he was trying to say, so we really look forward to any comments, interviews or any other content that would give more context or explanation. Maybe he was an Eremika shipper all along and forgot that he didn’t like the idea of childhood friends dating, who knows, but it really doesn’t feel like it? To us personally.

+ Why is it a bad thing that Eren did the rumbling for his friends? I don’t think that the fact that he had motives makes anything worse or better: once again, we kind of guessed that his plan was to make his friends into heroes that defeated big bad Eren. The idea of “uniting against the biggest evil” was discussed in SnK a lot of times, and it felt like the only solution to this situation. We’d be happy if Isayama came up with something smarter than our own ideas, but lol

To the Anon that talked about Eren not getting as emotional over his mom’s death: maybe I’m blind, but I felt like he almost had a breakdown when he was talking about it, and he’d have definitely started crying if Armin didn’t grab his hand and stopped him. He was already tearing up.

When he talked about Mikasa, it was almost a comical moment: Eren sat there with his butt in the water screaming like an idiot. It was an embarrassing thing to say, this is why he got so emotional. And technically he started crying while he was talking about not wanting to die. I think it’s natural for him to cry there. It still feels more like “I don’t want to die and be forgotten” than “oh no Mikasa’s going to kiss another boy”. But Mikasa is dear to him, and his friends are dear to him, he’s just a person and he wants to live and spend time with them, because this is what makes him happy.

I don’t know. The only thing that’s bothering us now is whether or not Eren had romantic feelings towards Mikasa, because it really would be out of nowhere.

I’m not saying that it’s wrong to feel disappointed and that no one understands Eren’s character but us who think he doesn’t act ooc: everyone can feel whatever they want and have their own opinion. But I personally feel like a lot of disappointment in the fandom comes from wanting Eren to be more… I don’t want to say chadish, but I guess chadish. He’s just a very tired teen.

If we’re wrong about his feelings towards Mikasa, then sure, we’ll disown the manga from the high horse we’d put it on. We’re not saints, we don’t like this stuff, and it’s very easy to throw Isayama and our love for the manga away, no matter how much time and love we’ve dedicated to it.

(Oh, and to answer the question about us continuing drawing Ereri. The chapter didn’t change how we see characters or ships, and we don’t really care about canon ships, so nothing is going to change. Well, maybe there will be more bird smut lol but I really appreciate the fact that our works inspire people to create and to dive into the world of Ereri and other ships <3 thank you very much for that)

[thattimdrakeguy]

Weirdly enough Red Robin is the series I’d be most scared to review, because for obvious reasons I imagine more than any other character it’s the Tim fan base (I won’t say fandom, because I feel like that gives a different connotation nowadays. and it’s a bunch of chill, un-interactive but very passionate, chaps) that follow me.

And I’d just get sooo many people giving me nit-picks, and telling me stuff I already know.

Cause I can say anything against Teen Titans 2003, New 52, Rebirth, and Wonder Comics stuff cause that’s the generally agreed upon stuff that you can complain against for Tim. Cause like, to not play dumb to it, this whole Bat-Family fandom acts like there’s freaking laws to abide by if you don’t want a bunch of batty (not a pun, not even saying not a pun in sarcasm lol) fans and stans down your neck. Normally involving certain characterizations or comics that, honestly, aren’t even usually the more accurate ones, but the contradicting ones that don’t make a lick of sense, and that’s not even talking about the straight up fanon ones.

Not to say I wouldn’t get why it’s the Red Robin series that’d get people to give me crap out of all the Tim stuff, because I do. It’s a lot of peoples entry to Tim, and it’s pretty heavy implications of suicidal ideation, and more so obvious mental breakdown journey across continents means a lot to people. I can get why, and if it wasn’t those characters in it, I’d think it was great too.

Also I know for a fact people would act like I’m just bias for 90s Tim, and point out Timmy’s in a teddy bear hoodie in my header. Cause it’s the most weakest defense someone could possibly make cause they’re lacking an actual point. Like they know everything a fucking ‘bout me, when they don’t, I’m just allowed to think my own stuff, and I’m allowed my dang comfort art, so blah blah blah. I’ve proved myself enough. I don’t need some random dismissive guys random approval or not, but man can it be annoying when someone thinks they’re smart about it.

Like basically put, it would be very exhausting to go through the many different series and years of comic book content to explain why I think the way I do, when all the other person has to say is “I like this series a lot, and it means a lot to me, it’s story about depression, and plus it’s Tim being at the button of his sanity so-- And I think this person is stuck on 90s Tim” cause like I freaking get it, and acting like cause I prefer a different Tim comic means my opinion isn’t valid, is the most childish thing ya can really do. Like I love 90s Tim the most for a reason, and I started reading Tim as Red Robin first, ya ninny.

But to just be honest, it is an incredibly flawed series that has overall, in the long game, soiled the character of Tim Drake, and directly influenced the New 52 and beyond depiction of him. Not to give Lobdell an excuse, I just find it really odd that people getting praising it as the peak of Tim content when it’s even caused some really freaking toxic fandom beliefs.

When some of the most important scenes in the series are so botched that it has genuinely made people despise other characters when I don’t even think they were portrayed well for that to make sense. The messy inconsistent writing as it went between two different writers causing some absolutely terrible characterization for Tim that isn’t even always consistent within the series itself because FabNic is just awful, and how forgettable most stuff after the first story is.

That first story I can understand the love for it. But people treating the whole series as a whole like it’s a great journey of long-term story development just feels like a real bad describer for it. Because to me by the end of it’s run it caused Tim to be put in the terrible spot that he’s only now escaping from little under a decade later. As well as only really starting cause people in the company didn’t like Tim and the characters around them as much as you’d hope.

In total, I honestly feel like if it wasn’t released during a time were the common tastes were very edgy and emo-esque, as well as around the time the online fandom spaces were only really then being formed in a way that was practical for casual interaction and discussion, and being the only series titled “Red Robin” therefore people seem to think it’s Tim’s variation of “Nightwing”, when it’s honestly not, it wouldn’t be a series that highly regarded.

I’m not saying the whole thing is a pile of shit, cause it’s also frankly not. There’s some powerful stuff in there, and some moments that really do hit super hard in ways that don’t feel superficial. Cause another thing people don’t seem to understand that when I say his characterization isn’t good in it, does not equal me saying “He is not the same exact character he was 15 years before the series came out”, it legitimately just means I feel they took the character to places that felt more forced than genuine, or just had him stuff that goes against what he’d do for the sake of just being edgy as if it’s deep, even during his circumstances and it created people having a false understanding of who Tim is at his heart, that made it incredibly difficult for Tim to get a good story for basically a freaking decade.

It’s a series I want to review because I have genuine things to say about it, but when ever I do say anything about it I feel like I see several sub-posts that are almost undeniably about me (hasn’t happened for a while cause I don’t really bother talking about stuff I don’t like anymore, cause life's hard enough, and I’ve seen the worst end of a lot of people from it) trying to downplay me, because they got defensive about it, rather than actually trying to process what I meant by things instead of just assuming it cause it’s touchy for them.

Like I’ve openly shit on Damian’s most popular series’, and accepted fandom malarkey, because I legitimately think they’re overhyped as could be, not that great, and only have the popularity they do through bandwagoning and going along with things. And I did that while knowing how defensive the Damian fandom is, and how quick they are to just leak out nasty assumptions or outright suicide bait you (yes I remember someone tried to defend me by suicide baiting someone else, but fuck them too, I never defended them or asked them to. idgaf which fandom does it. i’m clearly not on anyone's team. this isn’t a fucking sports game).

I’ve even straight up shit on pretty much every single Jason story except Under the Red Hood, while defending some Robin Jason stories, and I haven’t even got crap on me for that, which is honestly strange. Surprisingly just got told “Ya know what. Fair point. I can accept that. I don’t agree, but I can accept it.”. Which given what I have been shown of the Jason fandom I expected much worse, but they’ve honestly been really chill with me. Me and the Jason fandom has been actually some of the most pleasant interactions I’ve had outside my own bubble.

The majority of Steph’s existence as a character I’ve criticized and gotten crap on it, but honestly I found the response of countless anons going “YEAH MAN I AGREE WITH YOU” and going way harder on her than I ever did to be pretty dang annoying, and even more annoying cause people kept thinking I said stuff I freaking didn’t out of it. So every now and again people will just straight up lie about me to my face. Like you try to talk to someone that’s been preparing to talk to you by fighting an imaginary version of yourself. It’s pretty difficult if I had to be honest. Talking ‘bout bias’s like I didn’t write TimSteph fan fictions before I realized they weren’t that great and didn’t work, while realizing that I honestly didn’t think Tim was into girls in-general.

But, to get back on topic, with the Tim fandom it’s less like, open faced attempts to make you feel like a garbage human being, and more just straight up rudely dismissive as quite often the ones I’ve seen do it try to portray themselves as some calm knowledgeable unbias source of Tim knowledge.

And there’s a different sensation of annoyance at that.

Like what is the point of trying to pretend to be some source of knowledge and for a few comradery, while also being a dismissive person that first has to make others seem lesser.

And there’s some that I’ve seen do it that I don’t even think are dicks honestly, and have no problem with it, cause it’s just so innocently “I just really like the series and still think it’s good”. That I’d be confused why people would think I have a vendetta against everyone else. I’ve never been like, straight up offended more than once over the specific topic of Red Robin. But it is a thing that makes me like “I’ll get so many people giving me crap over having a different opinion for this won’t I”. And get some people trying to validate just being a bit of a fucker to me for no good reason.

So like, may or may not write a Red Robin review, but I might not cause despite quite a few people in the Tim fandom being quite chill about it, there’s quite a lot of people that are low-key toxic about it, and a lot of bad fandom things came out of it as well.

[shooks-stupid-stuff]

YOOOOO!!!!! I've finally come up with a question that doesn't make me feel like a complete idiot for asking it!!! I've always wondered what specifically f!Berkut said to au!Berkut but that thought process just lead to other things. When f!Berkut uses his special Rinea shows up for a moment. I have to ask did your au!Berkut see that Rinea? Does au!Berkut feel guilt whenever he looks at Rinea even though he didn't actually sacrifice her to Duma? That's all thank you for your time! ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ

ok so first off i just wanna say, sorry for taking a few days to get to this but i wanted to give myself time to let the ideas simmer and uh... do research-

SO! to make this easier to read imma answer each question individually, one at a time

and uhh hopefully this isn’t unnecessarily long lmao-

1. What specifically did F!Berkut say to AU!Berkut?

ok so first off, and this will apply for like everything in this post, as this au is connected to FEH, all the voicelines/forging bonds convos/etc. will be treated as canon. with that said, in the c conversation for the forging bonds f!berkut was in, he pretty much refers to normal berkut as ignorant and weak.  but, knowing berkut he would probably be disgusted with f!berkut, and confront him with something like “i’ll never stoop to your level of needing to rely on someone else’s power >:[” and then f!berkut just replies with something very taunting and mildly ominous (tbh the first panel of this dumb comic i made kinda demonstrates what i mean rlly well, which is ironic bc this comic is lowkey one of the reasons i made this a whoops) and then berkut is just like “wh- what are you talking about” and f! berkut just dips and/or gets told off by the summoner, but berkut is already shook at this point-

so yeah i hope that made sense-

2. Did AU!Berkut see Witch!Rinea? 

short answer is probably not. long answer is though she does show up in f!berkut’s special art, she doesn’t show up with his map sprite (though how sick would it be if she did, like how b!micaiah has yune with her) and, going back to forging bonds as well as several other various f! berkut lines, f!berkut is actively looking for rinea (or more specifically, his rinea), and since in sov he recognizes witch!rinea as rinea in the cutscene before the f!berkut fight, i think it’s fair to say she isn’t there. however, he does atleast find out about her when he makes b!/l!/v!alm (any of em work bc all are post-sov events (to my knowledge)) tell him what the fuck happened.

3.Does AU!Berkut feel guilty, despite not sacrificing rinea?

ok so, he definetly does, but it’s a bit complicated.  rather than the guilt decreasing with time, it actually increases with time during the actual events of sov (like acts 3-5) because despite his best efforts, berkut is really having a hard time changing things, and the impending sense of doom and dread (tm) just keeps getting worse.  as far as post events of sov goes, initially he’s just like “oh god it’s over” and starts to finally let go of the guilt, but then uh oh shit’s getting not good (see: this post if you haven’t read it already-) and here comes the exestentail dread again, and moreso than guilt fear. just pure fear that he’s going to lose control and hurt rinea, which is obviously the last thing he wants. but yknow the guilt also comes back, but in a moreso “oh god did i fail to fix things” kinda way.

so yeah! that’s basically it! and like,,,, thank u so much for the questions and being interested in my au it means so much to me ;v;

[it wont let me tag you so i hope you get the notif that i answered this h-]

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I thought about every episode of The Owl House Season 1 (Part 1/2)

Salutations random people on the internet who probably won't read this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

Hey, do you miss Gravity Falls?

...

Yeah, I know, dumb question. Which is why I have good news! Not only is there a new series that is just as good as Gravity Falls, but in some ways, it's even better. That new series would be none other than Disney Channel's latest hit: The Owl House.

The Owl House, slowly but surely, became my new obsession since Eda reacted to decapitation with an unconcerned, "I hate when that happens." I wrote fan-fiction, made fan-art, and even began to separately review new episodes. Unfortunately, I got in a little late in the reviewing game and only managed to analyze the last four episodes of season one. And like an idiot, I promised that I'll review the rest when they came out on Disney+. Seeing that all of the first season has finally come on a legal streaming service (which means WATCH IT RIGHT NOW!), it's time I finally saw through to that promise. However, I'm not going to over-analyze each episode because that would be insane. So instead, we're going to lightning round these suckers. Because it's my Tumblr, and I get to decide what I review and how the hell I review it...hooah.

Which means this is your last chance to avoid spoilers if you haven't seen The Owl House yet. Seriously, it's a great show, and you can catch up right now on Disney+. A week-long trial is more than enough time to watch the series, so DO IT! With that out of the way, let's get started with:

“A Lying Witch and a Warden”: This episode gets a lot of flack for having poor pacing and being too preachy with its message. And to that, I say...you're not wrong. Yeah, I wish I could be that person who can defend this episode against criticism like that, but these are understandable problems that just left this icky feeling in my tum-tum when watching. But that's only when looking at it as a regular old episode when in reality, people need to see it as a first episode. The first episode in any show needs to get viewers interested enough to continue watching by answering these five essential questions: What's the plot of the show? What's the tone? Who are the main characters? What's the world they live in? And what are the rules of the same world? "A Lying Witch and a Warden" does a great job of answering all of these questions. And if you stuck around until the season finale, then that means it did a great job of keeping you interested in sticking around as well. So seeing how it got its job done, albeit, with mixed results, I give this episode a B-.

“Witches Before Wizards”: Don't mind me. Just reveling in the fact that Luz escaped to a fantasy world to avoid Reality Check Camp, only to get a reality check anyway. Because that's what this episode is in a nutshell. Through the "quest" that Luz goes on, she learns two important lessons: One, don't trust strangers who offer you something nice and shiny (bonus points for Eda warning Luz to avoid men with sandals and then have Ategast wear sandals). And two, there is no such thing as having a predetermined destiny. I love the idea that Luz coming to the Isles was just a twist of fate, and everything that happens afterward is pure dumb luck. And that moment when Eda gave a speech about making your own path instead of waiting to become something special? That was the moment when I went from thinking this was going to be a fun show to thinking it's going to be a great show. So consider this episode a solid A in my book.

“I Was a Teenage Abomination”: How is it possible for an episode to get better and worse with time? Because here's the thing: This episode does a great job of showing how perfect Amity's development is. After one single season, it already feels jarring, seeing the way she acts in certain scenes. However, in that same respect, it's the same reason why this episode got worse. I didn't mind that Willow practically got away with cheating and vandalizing the school with her magic because she and Luz were basically trying to show up a two-dimensional bully. But knowing what we know in the future, it does seem unfair that Amity gets punished for their bad behavior and Willow got little consequences for it. Sure, Luz got banned and had to work at gaining Amity's trust, but what about Willow? Although, despite this complaint, I don't really hate this episode. It builds a believable connection between Luz and her friends, and the B-plot King and Eda show off their budding friendship. So while this episode is a C-, it's a somewhat enjoyable C-.

“The Intruder”: Is it weird for anyone else that King gets most of the blame in this episode? Yes, he took the potion, but Luz was the one who kept pushing him. This is why it never sat right with me seeing how everyone, including himself, blames King for this episode's incident. That being said, "The Intruder" is fantastic. Eda, as the Owl Beast, is legitimately threatening, and the way the episode treats Eda's curse like a chronic illness is actually kind of sweet. It teaches kids how this is something that just happens to people, and they're not any weaker because of it, as long as they take the right steps. Which is cool, and it's why this is another solid A episode for me. Sure King getting the blame bothers me, but it pales in comparison to everything else “The Intruder” does right.

“Covention”: If you want my personal opinion (obviously, seeing how you're reading this), "Covention" is the perfect episode to show a friend to get them into watching the The Owl House. Everything there is to love about the show is seen in just these twenty-two minutes. Eda being a chaotic good, Luz being a sweet and understanding character, some incredible/natural world-building, an actually decent B-plot, an epic fight scene, great comedy, and, my personal favorite, the building of Luz and Amity's relationship. In fact, this episode has the most quintessential moment between these two, that Dana Terrace herself took charge of making the animatic for it. A scene that is so perfect that you can do an analysis of these few minutes alone...which is what I did. Click here to read it! "Covention" gets an A+ in my book and might possibly be the best episode of the season. Maybe even the series!

“Hooty’s Moving Hassle”: There's not really a lot I can say about this episode. I don't hate it, but I'm not exactly in love with it. The interactions between Luz and her friends are adorable, and there are a few good jokes that kept me laughing. But the story is kind of bland, and I just find Eda's sudden obsession with Hexes Hold'em kind of odd. Especially since a card game is what nearly defeated the "undefeatable" Owl Lady. If it wasn't for the nice reveal of Willow's and Amity's friendship (which comes into play in a far better episode), I'd say that you could skip this one on future rewatches. Because this is a C grade episode that just doesn't grab me as well as others.

“Lost in Language”: Ah, yes. The episode that made dozens of fans jump aboard the Lumity ship...unless you're like me, and you've been shipping these two since the show's theme song (And I don't know why, either. It's just the second I saw Amity my first thought was, "Oh, honey. You're gonna fall in love with the main character, aren't you?" AND I WAS F**KING RIGHT!). But jokes about shipping aside, "Lost in Language" is a fantastic episode. It has a great lesson about how people are more complex than their first impressions (Or to not judge a book by its cover, if you wanna stay on theme). Edric and Emira seem like a chaotic duo who cause mischief all for good fun. But Luz, as well as the audience, learns that Ed and Em are kinda the worst (they get better in future episodes, but still). Then there's Amity, who hasn't had the best first impressions in the last few episodes. We got glimpses of a good person here and there, but for the most part, that's all they were. Glimpses. Then there's this episode, which gives us more than a small look, but some actual insight into who Amity really is. Better yet, who she wants to be. It's something that I appreciate about The Owl House in that it wastes no time in developing Amity's character. So much so that I can forgive this episode for shoehorning a "Two idiots and a baby" plotline that does nothing but add maybe two minutes of padding. So yeah, it's an A+ for sure.

“Once Upon a Swap”: "Ugh! It's the body swap episode! How cliche and-" SHUT UP! Shut your mouth, and listen: Something being cliche does not always make it bad. Only when the cliche fails to tell an entertaining story does it have the right to work as a complaint. "Once Upon a Swap" may have a cliche premise, but it's still an enjoyable story (or stories) with great laughs and even some ok lessons. I can understand if you hate the episode because its premise is something you've seen a dozen times to the point where your sick of it. My most hated story idea is the "Character A saves Character B, and Character B becomes a life slave." If you have seen this story once, you've seen it a thousand times, and it's the same case with a "body swap" episode. But guess what: The Owl House is a kids' show. Kids'. Show. You can complain all you want about predictability, but kids are the type of viewers who will be new to this experience, despite if it's one that is done to death. Which is why this is solid B of an episode if you ask me.

“Something Ventured, Someone Framed”: Can people please stop shipping Gus with Mattholomule? Because that slimy, greasy, weaselly little son of A BASTARD BITCH WEASEL DOES NOT DESERVE LOVE IN WAY POSSIBLE!

...

But enough about how Mattholomule is the worst character ever, because "Something Ventured, Someone Framed" is a B+ in my opinion. Sure it shows the worst side of Gus and lets Satan's little herpe win in the end, but there is still quality to be had. We get insight into who Gus is as a character, on top of Eda swallowing her pride and cleaning the school so Luz can get into Hexide. Also, Eda's permanent record was the first time this show brought me to tears due to laughing so hard. So while I have to take points off for the inclusion of Mattholomule (I don't make the rules. I just live by them), this is still an episode I wouldn't mind revisiting.

“Escape of the Palisman”: I subscribe to this theory that Luz will one day have Eda's staff as her own. And episodes like this that strengthen the bond between Luz and Owlbert help confirm that theory. Luz's dedication to trying to make things right could just be part of her kind nature, but I like to believe that this is Dana and the crew trying to set up this possible outcome. As for what I think about the episode itself...it's ok. Again, Luz's dedication is nice to see, and King's adventure with Owl Beast Eda is somehow insanely adorable, but there's not really much to say other than that. So it's another B episode for me.

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And that’s the end of part one! Part two has probably already been posted by the time you finish this, so you can go ahead and find that if you’re interested.

[popculturebuffet]

DWD Reviews: A Brush with Oblivion Or Is Everyone Blind and Stupid? (Commission by WeirdKev27)

Well this was a mixed bag if I ever saw one. Taking a break from the Ride, since Kev commissioned this during my still going black friday sale, seriously 3 bucks for episode commissions get after it, I thought this would be pretty good.. good villain with a good gimmick. Could be intresting. I didn’t count on EVERYONE but Honker, Gosalyn and Splatter Phoenix themselves daring to be stupid. I mean my god in god we trust, this one was frustrating. I WANTED to like it for it’s brilliant qualities but the main plot is so frustrating, Let’s discuss shall we? First off WHY Kev commissioned this one. He was waiting till I did Quackerjack and Bushroot but he decided to do it early because sale prices. See this is a BONUS chapter in “March to Justice Ducks”. It’s very thinly associated with it, but honestly had I had the idea myself I would’ve gladly done this and I thank Kev for it. See Tad Stones regretted putting Negaduck in the fearsome five. It’s not that Negs is a bad character.. it’s the opposite. Being such a dynamic and interesting one.. meant he overshadowed the other four to the point they didn’t get as much of a chance to shine. So in hindsight, had he had the chance to do it all over again he would’ve put Splatter Phoenix here in there instead. And I’m incllined to agree: as the comics show, Quackerjack could’ve been the leader easy and if not him Megavolt, but neither would’ve overpowered the others. That being said the five we did get are great, and the dynamic is fine, but I can’t fault him for wanting them to be equals instead of minons. 

And honestly , and getting to one of the episodes strengths, Splatter Phoenix IS a thoroughly awesome villain with a unique and interesting power. In short she’s an experimental artist who through her experimenting, created a paint brush that can bring paintings to life and control them as well as allow her to travel in and out of them. She’s voiced here by  Dani Staahl, who i’ve never heard of but is terrific. And shockingly, she’s voiced by a rather sizeable voice next time with Andrea Martin of SCTV fame. And if your wondering if i’m going to cover her other appearance you are extremely correct, just probably further down the line or for another commission.  But her powers are used REALLY creatively by the episode, having her and Darkwing and Co run through various abstract art I can’t really name outside of the salvador dahli piece at the end because I don’t know art. That being said, it still looks utterly gorgeous and while I can’t name most of the pieces or the artists behind them, the wiki does say most are pastiches. They are recognizable though and it does look utterly stunning from a cubist piece to the dahli finale to Gosalyn’s dinosaur picture seen above. Each style is unique, crisp and beautifully animated and they and splatter are the saving grace of the episode. These sequences are some of the best i’ve seen from the show and, especially for a low budget 90′s kids show even a disney one, are REALLY impressive and would be even today. And her attidue helps. While her gimmick is simple, she talks in intellectual art speak most of the time, it’s funny enough to enjoy. Plus, it weirdly does things for me and I don’t know how to respond to that so let’s move on. 

My shame aside, you may be wondering two things then: Why I don’t like this episode, and why i’m not covering it my usual style. Well the answer to both is otherwise.. this episode is REALLY damn obnoxious. Splatter takes up enough to make it watchable.. but the main spine of the episode not only pisses me off in a very specific way, as it follows a story trope I CANNOT stand, but in a general way it’s just frustrating and REALLY dumb.  The basic premise is it’s children’s art night at the musem, with the kids various paintings being displayed, so naturally The Mallards and the Muddlefoots are both there, with Honker having painted a painting within a painting and Gosalyn having painted a horrifing but neat dinosaur piece. It’s then.. the plot starts and my patience evaporates. Honker spots Splatter in a painting and spots her comit a theft but no one belivies him. They belivie it wasn’t him, because he dosen’t have the target on him, but his parents think he’s making stuff up and so does Drake. Or in other words...

I mean.. nothing about this works. I’d get skepticism in a normal setting, and this was produced earlier in the series though as for where your guess is as good as mine, but.. this is a world where appliances were brought to life, a water dog publicly ransomed the cities water suply, and and an evil toymaker raised hell, not to mention the bat based pizza theft. A woman running in and out of a painting SHOULD NOT be that farfetched but no everyone just assumes the kid is lying and dosen’t bother asking why. Including Drake.. everyone else.. fine, Herb’s a moron and we’ll get to him in a second. But Drake has fought so much weird shit at this point, you’d THINK he’d think it was a supervillian and not just honker lying.  You’d think but no. Thankfully he finds out pretty quick, so he’s more tolerable but it still hurts my head that he’s this stubborn. 

But as I just hinted at.. Herb and Binkie are worse as they repeadtly think their son is a liar and ground him over it... even though they KNOW Honker dosen’t lie, Gosalyn admits he can’t and admits she’s failed to teach him, and then instead of you know believing their kid, blame Gos for it, which amount's to absolutley nothing so why have this plot point! All it did was make me hate herb as much as Drake does.. I mean if he’s this terrible a parent and this dense that rather than believe his own kid didn’t do the impossible or wasn’t covering for a thief that his friend taught him how to lie, no wonder Drake can’t stand him. The voice dosen’t help, as normally it’s tolerable but it’s extra loud and extra insufferable this episode. It just makes already insufferable scnees worse. 

But the crowner for moron of this episode is the curator, who repadtly, when seeing Honker there, blames him for the thefts, and at one point when he tries to enter a painting HAS A CHILD ARRESTED. He has a small child, who couldn’t of possibly taken any of this.. arrested. Now granted one of the paintings is destroyed.. but the can wasn’t left behind by splatter phoenix. So he had a 10 year old arrested... on charges of propety destrictuion? What.. why would he do this? WHy would his parents belivie this/ WHY. it’s agonizingly dumb. It hurts.. it hurts and I understandably didn’t want to go on loop with this asshole. But that’s what the episode feels like and it only gets broken because Splatter outright tells the curator so she can ransom mona lisa’s mouth! GAH. 

But yeah that’s our big setpiece,  as Splatter carriers mona’s annoying mouth around through some cool set pieces. We also get a neat bit earlier of Gosalyn stuck in a piccaso, which looks really damn neat and also really painful. And apparently she can leave because drake enters? I dunno, it’s not the dumbest thing about this episode. We do get the curator catching Darkwing tryign to take the painting.. which not only has him actually blamed with a crime resonably for the first time since the pilot, but is clever and gets a good line out of the deal.  And that brings me to another reason the episode is so frustrating: so much of the plot is just dropped threads. The Waddlemeyers don’t want honker around gosalyn. Goes nowhere. Gosalyn is trapped in a painting,. Resolved pretty easily. Darkwing might take the fall for this GOES NOWHERE. MY SANITY. GOES AWAY. 

Finally.. I just don’t like this stock plot. The “Character is telling the truth but no one belivies them”. it CAN be done well. Amphibia did this plot well in season 1 and Gravity Falls used it well as it was revealed Stan DOES know, he just was playing dumb. It can be done right.. it’s just more often than not a kid is put through hell for something they have on control over by some asshole adult or some other kid. or an adult is put through it. I’ve never enjoyed this sort of Michigan J Frog bullshit, and never will. And here it’s an innocent, honest, good kid being sent to JAIL breifly for .. telling the truth. With no reward. Just nope episode over. fuck this episode. 

So before we wrap, the finale, which again is pretty good. Honker finds one of Splatter’s brushes, uses it to restore Darking and Co and it’s pretty cleve.r. then it gets dumb again with Darkwing escorting pheonix away and the muddlefoots finally beliving their son after mona lisa’s smile tells them he isn’t a liar.. okay whatever we’re done. 

FINAL. THOUGHTS. 

This episode is split down the middle :It’s half a good episode, wtih great sequences, great jokes and great use of classic art.. and half GOD MAKE IT STOP AGGRIVATION. It’s easily the worst darkwing i’ve seen so far, and yet SITLL has stuff worth watching it for. The painting sequences are still some of the shows best.. it’s jsut saddled with a plot I hate and that aggrivates me. This was not good, and i’ve seen much better and hopefully Splatter’s other appearance is less aggravating. we will see eventually. Till then, there’s always another rainbow. 

[ninetyfivepercentdantomasik]

Great Characters: Tohru (Jackie Chan Adventures)

Everyone has their favorite character types. The Lone Gunslinger, the Wandering Samurai, the Wacky Sidekick, the Wise Mentor, the Maniacal Villain, and on & on. One of my favorite character types is an unusual one, “Developed Henchmen”. Characters who begin as dumb muscle but develop into fully rounded individuals. That love originated from one character from the animated series Jackie Chan Adventures, Tohru.

Tohru began as what you’d call “the big thug”. Literally, he’s about 8ft tall and 6ft wide of equal parts bulk and muscle, working for a criminal enterprise as their enforcer. He is who Valmont calls when he wants things done. He is shown in the opening theme as the first Huge Threat for Jackie to take down in a single (albeit painful) punch. His role in any episode is to do what Valmont’s other, less reliable henchmen can not; get results. Dirty work, heavy work, and generally Big Work. Tohru is not a talker. The majority of his lines in the first season are less than four words.

“The shield.”

“The talisman.”

“The pig.”

“What?”

“Chan.”

“I hate fish.”

“Mmm. Peppy.”

That said, the main motif for Tohru’s character is to, somewhat humorously, add weight (both figuratively and literally) to any situation. And it works. For having the losing record he does against the Chans, he is never seen as a threat to be taken lightly. Tohru’s involvement always means things just got a whole lot harder. Be it a fight, a chase, or a pie-eating contest.

Following the end of the first season, where Tohru is ordered by Valmont to fight a Demon Sorcerer and is finger-flicked across a room, through a set of doors, down a hallway, into an elevator shaft, out of an elevator shaft, out of a skyscraper and into a neighboring skyscraper, Tohru begins to question his choice of employment. In his first act towards repairing the damage he’s helped cause, he gives Uncle the information needed to address this new threat.

“The demon’s name is Shendu.”

There’s no interrogation, no trickery, and no obligation demanded in exchange for the Chans treating his wounds, it’s Tohru’s own decision to help. And with that one single action, Tohru starts a new life with the Chans.

It is in many ways like his old life. He is still often used for his size and strength against magical and non-magical threats. However, in a surprising turn, Tohru also begins learning Chi Magic from Uncle. As the series progresses, the amount of time he spends fighting decreases, while the amount of time he spends doing research, learning spells, performing rituals, working in the shop, and engaging in casual conversation increases dramatically. Some of it is used for comic effect. It adds a strange and humorous tension to see a giant man holding a small pufferfish between his fingers speaking magic words rapidly. The fourth season brings Tohru even further into the forefront as he, being of Japanese heritage, must be the one to create the spells, rituals, and potions needed to combat the Oni Generals and their tribes of Shadowkhan, not Uncle. He succeeds, and while Tohru may never be seen as the formidable magic expert Uncle is, he ends the series as the one who deduces the method of banishing the demon threat once and for all. Tohru’s last scene is receiving the title and rank of “Chi Wizard” by Uncle. It’s an incredibly proud last note for a character who began as just a Big Thug.

Between that start and end, Tohru remains a prominent character in the series, appearing in more than 3/4 of the episodes. Again, somewhat humorously, he never has a small part in an episode. The character has such a presence that even the smallest acts make a big impact. Not just fighting, but listening to Jade talk about her problems, helping Jackie look after Jade, helping Uncle with the shop, etc. Each of the Chans come to see Tohru as more than just size & strength. Uncle sees motivation to learn and respect for one’s elders, two traits in short supply around the shop. Jackie sees responsibility and humility, traits he wishes to teach Jade. Jade sees someone who knows what it feels like to be invisible to other people. As for the nature of the show itself, if someone can knock Tohru aside, that’s all the proof we need for a higher level of “Bad Day”.

He builds a relationship with Jade that’s particularly powerful. Jade, who loves her uncle Jackie and can always think of ways Tohru can help, pushes him to get involved and help keep everyone safe. Tohru, knowing what Jade means to Jackie as well as what it means to have no one listen to you, is always there for her, looks out for her, believes in her, and tries to be the good guy she thinks he can be. In such a short time, Tohru has become protective enough of Jade that he at one point threatens to turn his former master Valmont inside-out if anything should happen to her. This culminates in one of Tohru’s greatest moments in the J-Team’s first official mission to a Shady Martial Arts Tournament, which goes very, very, poorly. The tournament is such unfamiliar territory for the group that each member ends up a combination of defeated, crippled, or knocked out. This leaves Tohru as their last chance of gaining access to the inner workings of the operation, in a fighting format he insists he is, of all things, “too small” for, Sumo. Jade does everything she can to teach and encourage Tohru, believing he will do great. The show does a spectacular job of showing just how debilitating Tohru’s reluctance and lack of self-esteem can be, with Jade knocking him clear across the room and onto his butt. His reluctance proves well-founded, as his opponent is to Tohru what a Large Fries is to a Small. Tohru remembers Jade’s advice to, as someone so small and easily dismissed, “think big”, and in a colossal display of sheer determination, Tohru lifts his opponent clear off the ground, teeters uncertainly, then brings the champion sumo down with a CRASH that lifts everyone off the ground. It pays to listen to Jade.

We come to see the big bad Tohru as a gentle man who seeks only to be accepted and appreciated. A man who gives everything he can to help others, and always puts his needs behind theirs. He doesn’t like attention or making a big scene. Or fish. He much prefers the smaller, quieter things in life. Like kittens. He doesn’t mind doing chores or menial work around the shop, and actually seems to enjoy the more mundane lifestyle. Now, I don’t want it to seem that this means Tohru has an inherent sense of subservience. Tohru is not, nor is he ever treated, as a slave or servant. The situation is never one-sided with Tohru doing everything while everyone else does nothing. He is a paid employee of Uncle, an apprentice in Chi Magic, an agent for Section 13, and a valued member of the J-Team. Tohru definitely struggles with self-esteem, possibly a result of his upbringing from his demanding mother, a short woman with big expectations from her son that he never seemed to be able to meet.

The Chans have shown they are willing to traverse the globe to support him, including an episode in which Tohru is believed to be the reincarnated Chosen One of an ancient order. He is barred from doing any manual labor, including carrying his own suitcase off a plane, which clearly bothers him. For an introvert, there is nothing worse than getting so-called “special treatment” while everyone else has to struggle. Tohru is the kind of person who prefers being treated equally, as opposed to treated differently. This may be part of why he values Jade’s friendship so much. She sees him as a friend and a person, not just a giant. The first and often only thing people notice about Tohru is his size, and as tough as he is, there are moments where he clearly wishes he were more normal. In Jade’s eyes, Tohru is a regular guy, and that means more to him than anything in the world.

All this development turns that most disposable of characters, the “big henchman” into a vital and essential part of the dynamic, the story, and the entire world of a show. While I don’t expect this level of development from every program I watch, I always have a soft spot for any henchman character given a chance to do something besides grunt, fire wildly, be a dick, and/or get beat up. I believe in a great series even the lowliest of characters can make a difference, and if a series can’t use a character more than once, any success it finds can only be temporary.

[citialiin]

THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; Mun & Muse - Meme.

fill out & repost ♥ This meme definitely favors canons more, but I hope OC’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. Multi-Muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm. tagged by: @forseenclade thank you ! man i am so bad at doing memes.  tagging: @blossomingbeelzebug @zhrets @lupichorous @dansiere yayayayayayayaya

My muse is:   canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless / complicated [ z/iggy stardust is DEFINITELY not my original character, but 683 is, and every single part of how i rp ziggy from his backstory to his personality was made up by me. that being said, ziggy is still a character that exists in media. ]

Is your character popular in the fandom?  YES / NO. [ im pretty sure ziggy is tied with the thin white duke as one of b*wie’s most famous fictional personas? ]

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom?  YES ? / NO / IDK.

Is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK.

Are they underrated?  YES / NO / IDK. [ maybe a little overrated ]

Were they relevant for the main story?  YES / NO.

Were they relevant for the main character?  YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG.

Are they widely known in their world?  YES / NO.

How’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL. [ celebrity rock god of limitless talent vs inevitable overrated washup. most celebrities are polarizing anyways ]

How strictly do you follow canon?  — there isnt much canon to go off of i think? the album barely even states if ziggy is an alien and b*wie himself got really wishy washy about it (sometimes saying z is a human who was contacted by aliens, he was an alien himself, etc). i dont think we know anything about him besides what he looks like (red hair / weird eyes / pale / “well hung” lmao) and he has a band called the spiders from mars, he plays the guitar left handed, he’s bisexual + androgynous, and he’s charming and popular with the teens but inevitably is a victim of his own ego. and he dies.  that too.  but that’s literally it! we know Nothing else about him.  so i filled in all the gaps because my brain has worms.  theres a little bit of the story that verges on fantasy (that he’s some sort of messiah messenger for “the infinites,” whatever the fuck THAT means, david) so i nix that because i prefer hard scifi.  and theres one BIG part that i just ... deleted out of his canon, in that the world is ending in 5 years in his timeline, and he’s like ... aware of this ?  but that’s dumb and confusing.  i legit dont care anymore. my OC now.

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals.  —  im so embarrassed i know i could be genuine and actually try but i have brain blockajjolajlakala33lak33klak333ak3jka3akjj323j3 i guess it’s like ... ziggy is truly the ultimate expression OF humanity because he reveals everything both wrong and right about the human condition, he literally embodies the best of humanity and the worst at the same time, he’s a really interesting critique on the idea of genuineness/earnestness vs commercalism in art, the perils of fame, and also how humans are so inherently corrupting?  a lot of thematic stuff i like exploring is like what is innate to humans vs what is learned behavior, what are things that humans do naturally that ziggy mimics out of his desire to be like us?  i think he has a really good story arc -- he went from being a literal nameless CLONE in a society full of pragmatic forward thinking science-oriented people to a sell out rockstar celebrity in a society of people that value individualism and self expression and art, but in the process completely lost his mind and himself and gave into the worst that humanity has to offer like rampant selfishness, drug abuse, self destructive tendencies, etc. characters changing is always interesting and ziggy truly changes for the worse -- but he is never just black and white, he was never good and then suddenly evil, he just was always the same person putting on different facades and trying to be himself by constructing an identity that maybe was who he wanted to be versus who he actually is.  i dont know what im talking about. hes just an alien trying to be too hard to be human in all the wrong ways.   i just like how “gray” ziggy is. he isnt good or bad, he can be very nice and he can be very mean, he’s overtly showboating confident but at the same time deeply afflicted with self-consciousness (why tf else would anyone be So obsessed with how they present themselves?).  hes an icon of individualism but also commercialism.  he’s freakishly alien but is almost more human than humans themselves.  he struggles as lot in his head -- which makes for interesting writing, i guess !!  Im so emabrrased im not going to go back and read what i wrote so if i typoed dont look at me

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?).  —  i think ziggy comes across as really mean and nothing else.  his horrible bitchy rudeness comes across as hee hee hoo hoo sassy isnt he a rascal when it’s supposed to be more like ... he’s so far gone into the celebrity delusion he’s conflated aggressive rudeness with charmingness because no one told him otherwise and everyone worships him to the point where he’s just given into the delusion that he can do no wrong.  i think theres the general simplification problem that happens with a lot of fictional characters, it’s easy to see him as just a whacky sassy glittery quirky rockstar when i guess it avoids the inherent tragedy of like ... everything else about him. his totally fake and false sense of identity built up from superficial things like fame and labels and stardom.  maybe my version of ziggy is just too weirdly depressing and sad when i know his original iteration wasn’t quite so ... grim.  im not very sure tbh.  

What inspired you to rp your muse?  —  hmmm ... a lot of things! i just really got into b*wie stuff in early 2019, i’ve ALWAYS loved aliens and sci-fi, and i was really shocked that db sets up such great visual storytelling potential but does it through music.  i just really liked ziggys “story” and i like any chance to think about aliens so i just got invested into piecing together a little backstory for him using, like, the cumulative knowledge of literally every other piece of science fiction ive ever consumed in my life.  this was summer 2019 when i was making initial pitches for my thesis film, and so i just randomly decided to pitch “animated version of ziggy stardust” as one of the potential ideas.  shockingly everyone liked it a lot and so did my professor who thought it was really cool, and then i just ended up sticking with the character and working on him for an entire year.  ziggy became my hobby but also my homework.  he was such a fun character because everything about him was interesting to me and i had just enough source material to have a starting point but so much room to take him in any direction i wanted to.

What keeps your inspiration going?  —  honestly, yooooou guyssssss. i have some really amazing fwends that ive met thru here .... and some of our dumb stupid stories have literally become NOVEL length. it just self generates inspiration because you realize the limitless amount of stories you could tell with this one single character when your character enters his story or he enters their story and etc. etc.  ive drawn endless amounts of comics and stuff for him ... ziggy is just so endlessly interesting ...   cringe be cringed bro but recently (i know this sounds dumb bear with me or die.) ive kind of realized a lot of how i rp z comes as some metaphor for the experience of being an asian immigrant/being asian in the US -- his home “culture” is a lot stricter than the rampant selfish individualism of the usa (he only lives in the uk and usa, so he thinks the whole planet is like this), he’s dissuaded from standing out from his community and his selfishness becomes a community burden rather than a personal flaw, and when he does come to earth, he goes through such awful culture shock, literally nothing makes sense to him and everything is Different.  and while some things are different in a Nice way, something things are different in an Awful way, and he’s given the option between losing his true personal identity as an atominan and giving it up to be a human.  the allure of being a human is a little too much but losing yourself like this is traumatic, in a way.  obvs like ... a little silly and definitely not something that i actively intended to put into his story arc, its just something that fell into place cuz i guess i worked so closely with my own personal experiences and feelings of “alienation” (pun intended) to try to understand how he would feel being a literal alien an shid. its cathartic to write about him. but he also has a lot of my own personal interests just thrown in -- 70s fashion, scifi, science, tryhard implications about human nature, art history, whatever dumb nonsense i get into

Some more personal questions for the mun.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO / SOMETIMES?

Do you frequently write headcanons?  YES / NO  [ i would prefer information to spring up organically in the story but cuz threads always get dropped i end up just telling people outright. i didnt want anyone to know his home planet/his old name but barely anyone writes enough with ziggy to get to that point to reveal it (i legit managed to do it organically Once) so i just had to write it in a post lmao orz ]

Do you sometimes write drabbles?  YES / NO [ wrote a ton of drabbles ! drew a ton of comics! ]

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES / NO 

Are you confident in your portrayal?   YES / NO / I DUNNO?

Are you confident in your writing?  YES / HAHA NO.

Are you a sensitive person?  YES  / NO. / IDK ? 

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal?  —  definitely!  like i said ... my version of ziggy ended up being the protag of my thesis film and for 1 yr straight his characterization, backstory, design, and even how i wanted to animate his fucking movements (ziggy stardust timing charts.) were beaten to death in a classroom environment, torn apart and rebuilt into something better.  had i stayed with what i originally wanted to go with, ziggy would be so different than how i write him 2day. amazingly my pre production professor is a literal two time emmy award winning storyboard artist and animator so he definitely helped me design him (my version of ziggy is meant for ... a cartoon, obviously, not real life) and give him a better backstory?  and my post production professor is a retired disney animator who worked on hercules and a bunch of old disney channel shows?  had i gone wah wah wah i dont want to hear ur critiques i wouldnt have made him better.  if you ever think ziggy seems inconsistent or poorly written ... tell me !! i literally major in ... animation. cartoons. entertainment.  my job is to entertain you. if you are not entertained, there is a problem.  ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED ????

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character?  —  I LOVE QUESTIONS? i love ... answering questions ... if you ask me something ill come kiss you.

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why?  —  sure! i dont know why that would happen, though, because i mean ... he’s an OC. but i gues someone could be like “i feel like this is incongruous to things you’ve previously established in his character” or somethin

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it?  —  i feel like a lot of b*wie stans would find my version of ziggy weird but i mean thats fine!  i guess my goal is to have a well written character, not necessarily an accurate version of ziggy

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it?  —  if you hate MY version of ziggy thats fine but if u hate ziggy stardust in general (like the bowie concept) then u need some taste what the fuck is cooler than a egomaniac genderless bisexual rockstar alien with red hair? nothing. go back to watching your CW shows you dirty filthy normie

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors?  —  yes! dm me though. dont clown me on the dash like that.  i usually write your replies 12 AM - 4 AM so it’s expected.

Do you think you are easy going as a mun?   —  hmmm ... maybe! i do like to talk to people and i am VERY nice, trust me, if youre ever sad ill do everything i can to make you feel better. but im quiet! i dont really reach out to people and i tend to just keep to myself.  im not very social or extroverted at all haha i barely can make ooc posts without feeling like god’s coming to beat my head in with a brick. im sitting here at 5:30 AM with this meme feeling like if i post it i will die (BUT I MUST)

[tessatechaitea]

Justice League Task Force #1 (1993)

Martian Manhunter looks like he's doing the most painful Boob/Butt Showcase ever attempted.

I know J'onn J'onzz's entire body is supposed to be facing forward on this cover but it really looks like he's turning all the way around at the waist. If there's any character that could successfully do that, it's Elongated Man. And also Martian Manhunter. So I'm less worried about J'onn's stance than I am about Gypsy's torso. Unless it's her ass that's the problem. Maybe the entire problem with this cover is simply Sal Velluto. This seems to be the only issue of this series that I own. That's good because the cover art by Sal is not promising. Also, I don't recognize any of the names in the creative team. Was this one of those "Let's give some new talent a project nobody at DC really cares about" kind of deals? It would seem that way judging by the roster. Even though Martain Manhunter was the backbone of the Justice League for many years, he's still kind of a nobody, nothing, bottom-of-the-barrel hero. And Gypsy?! You can't even say her name anymore without somebody canceling your shit. I don't have any complaints about The Flash because I have to save them for the members of the team on the back cover.

Ugh. Aquaman and Nightwing! The worst! Even worse than those two in the corner, Amanda Waller's younger sister and Alfred Hitchcock in a toupee.

Some of you younger jerks might not remember a time when Nightwing sucked. He fucking suuuuuuuucked. The absolute worst. He was like when you're wearing boxers and the tip of your dick pops out of the pee gateway and starts rubbing on the inside of your Levi's. He was like when you take a shit and you feel the loss of the turd's momentum right at the end and you just know you're going to have a huge hanger and probably a good inch or two of shit still up in your asshole which you'll be dealing with for the rest of the day. He was like when you're a guy and having a really good sex dream and suddenly you realize it's a dream and if you complete the act, you're going to have a huge mess to clean up and then you wake up because your brain is all "I don't want to clean up the mess!" but you're all, "You stupid brain! I was getting laid!" Man, he was just awful. And Aquaman was worse! This issue is called "The Tyranny Gun" and I'm pretending I understand that. I'm just nodding my head and enthusiastically saying out loud, "Yeah! Yeah! A gun! That shoots tyranny! Get fucked, motherfuckers!"

I get that J'onn J'onzz is probably an approximation of his real Martian name but I wouldn't call it "convenient." John Jones is his convenient name!

Martian Manhunter has been tracking down French separatist terrorists who want Quebec to secede from Canada. Yeah, okay, 1993. What an innocent time! This plot sounds like the plot of a slapstick comedy. The French version of Stripes. Why the fuck would a bunch of French people want Quebec to secede from Canada?! As if it's not already practically France anyway! I'm sure they're angry that some people fuse English words with French words, sullying their perfect fucking language. I'd be more apt to believe the Dungeon & Dragons Club in my junior high school had been running dog fights after school. You might be thinking, "That's not that ludicrous!" But then you didn't see the absolute nerds in my Dungeons and Dragons club.

I don't know why that one kid's face was blacked out by the Year Book Staff. Maybe he was so handsome he made the other guys feel bad. Or maybe...maybe he was the lead guy running the dog fights?!

As Martian Manhunter is roughing up the Quebecois terrorists, he thinks, "'Politically correct' murder." What does that even mean?! Is he suggesting French Canadians think it's okay to murder as long as you murder somebody who isn't French? Does he think Canadians murdering is politically correct? Trying to parse that statement is reminding my brain what it was like to read an Ann Nocenti script. Martian Manhunter pats himself on the back (which he can do because he has every super power in the book including Plastic Man arms) for stopping the French terrorists. He's proud that in a world with little justice, he can provide some of his own. I mean, sure! It's easy to create justice when you're the only one you have to consult in the justicing of things. Technically, I think that's called authoritarianism. But I suppose if enough people can agree that what you did without any input from anybody else at all was a decent thing, you can get away with doing it over and over again. Like Superman and sort of like Batman. I say "sort of like Batman" because I think a lot of people hate the way Batman acts and Batman just doesn't give a fuck. Meanwhile, some government types in Washington need a new Suicide Squad. But different! One composed of heroes that don't ask too many questions instead of dangerous criminals who do ask lots of questions but also know that they can have their heads blown off at any second. They need these heroes to help keep a leader of an allied nation in power. The leader has a habit of murdering political rivals so the United States doesn't want to be seen helping him. So they need a covert team of super heroes to defend the bastard. I guess those heroes will be Martian Manhunter (because he doesn't really understand Earth's ways and if you point out he's creating justice, he'll jump at the chance), Aquaman (because he needs the money), Nightwing (because he needs to prove he can make it on his own without Batman), The Flash (because he's kind of dumb, especially when it comes to politics), and Gypsy (because she can hide well, I guess).

The comic includes a Justice League Task Force membership card which I never filled out and removed.

You can tell I didn't buy into this whole government Justice League bullshit because I didn't fill out the card and stick it in my wallet for years. And I didn't not do it because I was 21 at the time! I carried around my Elfquest Fan Club card and my Wizardry Baltec's Trading Post charge card from Wizardry IV until the day I stopped carrying a wallet that closes with Velcro (that was probably in my late mid-twenties!). Hannibal, the Alfred Hitchock in a toupee looking guy from the back cover, is the man chosen to lead the Justice League Task Force. He approaches Martian Manhunter by walking into his apartment uninvited. Martian Manhunter, knowing that every cop is just looking for an excuse to shoot him with a flamethrower, acts like it's no big deal that this guy intruded on his privacy. Hannibal tells Martian Manhunter that the government needs a strike force that could save millions of lives and Martian Manhunter blurts out, "Justice!" Then he composes himself and he's all, "I'm probably in. But tell me about it first. And don't lie! I'll know if you're lying! I have all the super powers, remember!" Meanwhile in London, Justice League Europe are fighting a sewer dinosaur.

I've eaten enough sandwiches in a dark room to know Dr. Light is wrong.

Sometimes I'll read a comic book like Watchmen or The Sandman and proudly think, "This is why I read comic books!" And other times, I scan a panel of Dr. Light bending over so that you can see her lady package and I shamefully think, "This is why I read comic books!" Dr. Light is upset that Justice League Europe eventually has to kill the sewer dinosaur. But Flash is all, "It killed a bunch of people! No one ever said being a hero was full-time fun." (The second sentence of that quote is exact. I know I used quotes so you would think the entire thing was exact. But I like to embellish sometimes.) So according to The Flash, killing people for justice isn't fun. He should get that message across to American gun owners. They're all salivating looking for an excuse to murder somebody.

It's canon! Aquaman smells like shit!

Hannibal calls up Justice League Europe and he's all, "Martian Manhunter needs Aquaman and The Flash for a UN sanctioned mission!" But The Flash, who I thought would be the easiest pushover, is all, "I don't like being told what to do and just going to do it! What are we, a bunch of trained monkeys?" (Again, the second sentence is an actual quote!) But Aquaman is all, "You said it yourself! This isn't always fun. If we're needed for a vague mission where we're doing the work of the United States Government to protect the interests of shadowy men and multi-billion dollar corporations, who are we to refuse?" And The Flash is all, "You're right! Well argued! I am a trained monkey! Let's go!" Martian Manhunter recruits Gypsy in the middle of a shopping spree that's totally not a racist stereotype at all. I don't think. Maybe it is. It was 1993! Nobody knew gypsy was a slur even though if you somebody said "gypsy," everybody in the room would immediately picture the exact stereotype. You'd think we would have realized how that's like the epitome of being racist. It really made it tough on young lazy girls to put together a quick Halloween costume when everybody realized how terrible we all were. At least as a guy, we were able to get away with being hobos and tramps a little bit longer! Gypsy agrees to work on the Task Force because she needs money and a place to stay and maybe a new moniker. The team decides they're ready to go because they can't get Batman. But that's when Nightwing comes in through the balcony window and says, "Will I do?!" And everybody goes, "Aww. Batman would have dropped through the skylight!" Nobody wants to work with Nightwing because he's not in the Justice League. But Hannibal is all, "Oh, you're working with him! And that's not the only thing you're not going to like to hear! Because your job is to protect a despot and a tyrant! You need to make sure a bunch of people on some shitty island keep their terrible living conditions!" Gypsy, Martian Manhunter, The Flash, and Aquaman all make sour faces and do face palms. But Nightwing is all, "Yes! Let's do this! Suck it, Batman!" Justice League Task Force #1 Rating: C. It's as average as a comic book about a super hero group doing the terrible work of the government. I suppose that isn't always average since Suicide Squad was really good. But then they weren't heroes and they were forced to go on terrible missions. So that's why that worked. I don't see how forcing Justice League members to do terrible things in the name of the United States government is a good idea for a book. That's probably why I never purchased Issue #2!

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

Pixar Films

I dislike Disney as an entity; it is an evil corporate conglomerate that makes focus-grouped schlock to appeal to as wide an audience as possible at the detriment of story.  That said, Pixar was once the greatest animation studio on the planet.

Keep in mind, these are movies for kids, so anything negative I say will almost certainly be rebutted with “you’re just old and you don’t like Disney because it’s popular and you’re a hipster and you’re not even the target audience anyway so shut up.”  I’m just giving my two cents, whatever that’s worth.

I’m not gonna rate them on a number scale, I’ll just tell you how much I would or would not recommend watching them.  Some are must-see-cinema, others are bland and skippable affairs that you should not feel obligated to watch just because it has the Pixar brand on it.

Let’s start from the very beginning (a very good place to start)

Toy Story (1995) Groundbreaking, the first feature length 3D animated movie, spectacular cast, great story, though a little wonky by today’s standards both in the visuals (though that’s just a product of the times) and in the characterization (Woody is kinda of a jerk in this one; he was worse during pre-production, so this is the tame version).  Pixar started off on the right foot.  Would Recommend

A Bug’s Life (1998) This has some flaws, but is still a really fun movie.  Not as good as Toy Story, but infinitely better than Dreamworks’ knockoff Antz.  Great ensemble, memorable characters and set pieces, really funny.  Would Probably Recommend

Toy Story 2 (1999) An excellent sequel, they knocked it out of the park with this one.  It’s surprisingly deep, exploring concepts like the inevitability of change; nothing lasts forever, you can’t keep kicking the can down the road forever.  The journey is finite, but that doesn’t make it worthless.  Would Definitely Recommend.

Monsters, Inc. (2001) To date, their best original movie, maybe even better than Toy Story 2.  Everything about it is perfect; John Goodman and Billy Crystal have great chemistry, Steve Buscemi plays the perfect sleaze, Boo is just adorable, it’s an excellent movie.  Would Definitely Recommend.

Finding Nemo (2003) This is a beautiful movie; they had to invent new animation techniques to make it look this good, new ways for light to bounce and diffuse through the fishy medium.  Amazing story, absolutely heart wrenching at points, hilarious at others, without feeling tonally dissonant.  Would Definitely Recommend.

The Incredibles (2004) Another home run, they’re just showing off at this point.  This is a much deeper and arguably darker story than any of their previous films.  It doesn’t pull any punches and explores adult concepts like mid-life crises, extramarital affairs, death (oh, so much death; red shirt mooks and civilians alike).  This may be my favorite (definitely top 3; I’ll expand the list below).  Would Definitely Recommend.

Cars (2006) A competent movie, though by Pixar standards it’s not quite up to snuff.  Not bad, by any means, but this one is the most blatant cash grab of them all, just a commercial for hot wheels and die-cast toys.  I have a soft spot for it because this is the one I’ve seen the most; my mom would turn on this DVD to keep my baby sisters occupied, so it was literally always playing in our house.  That said, I’m not nostalgia blind; it has good parts, but it’s not great.  Would Probably Not Recommend.

Ratatouille (2007) C’est Magnifique!  Patton Oswalt does a fantastic job, I identify with Linguini on a spiritual level, the human characters are all perfectly demented and the rats are equally so.  I love this moral; anyone can be successful, it’s about who you are not where you come from.  Funny and relatable, an all around feel-good movie.  Would Definitely Recommend.

WALL-E (2008) Top 3, hands down, this is a true work of art, a modern masterpiece.  A film mostly devoid of dialogue, it expresses so much emotion from how the characters carry themselves and react physically to their surroundings.  The body language, the color choices, the camera work (especially in the space dance sequence), just how RAW everything is, how grounded it feels, how fleshed out these little robots are..  I Cannot Recommend This Enough, Watch it Right Now. Now. Why Are You Still Reading This?  Now! Go Watch it Then Come Back.  Even if You’ve Already Seen it, Go Watch it Again.

Up (2009) Another near perfect installment under Pixar’s belt.  They’ve really nailed the art of opening scenes; Carl and Ellie’s love story moves me to tears, it is so beautifully portrayed.  Some of the characters can be a tad annoying and overly cutesy to sell merchandise, but the story never suffers from it.  The villain actually feels like a threat, there are stakes, and the image of a house sitting by a waterfall and the story connotations thereof are indescribably bittersweet.  Would Definitely Recommend

Toy Story 3 (2010) This is is sort of hit or miss.  It’s a very well made movie, and an excellent CONCLUSION to the Toy Story franchise (Conclusion: noun, the end or finish of an event or process).  I liked it, felt it really wrapped things up in a satisfactory way, but it’s not better than Toy Story 2 in my mind.  I feel like this was a turning point for Pixar; after this, they were never quite the same, never really bounced back.  May or May Not Recommend, I’m on the Fence

Cars 2 (2011) You don’t give the comedy relief their own movie.  That’s storytelling 101; the comic relief bit-character can rarely stand on their own and meaningfully carry a story, though corporations are laughing all the way to the bank as I say this because these types of movies keep making boatloads of money even if they suck.  Minions made bookoo bucks, the Pirates of the Caribbean series is still ongoing despite the loss of Bloom and Knightly (and bringing them back for the last one doesn’t really count because Depp is still the main character), Cars 2 is a corporate cash grab, and devoid of artistic merit; this is my first hard no.  Would NOT Recommend.

Brave (2012) This is not a Pixar film, it is a Disney film that they decided to make under Pixar’s name instead because they knew Pixar had enough good will and positive connotations to get people into seats regardless of story.  It’s not terrible, but it’s not great.  That’s the story of modern Disney; not terrible, not great, just okay because that’s all it needs to be.  People will watch it no matter what, so they put in the bare minimum amount of effort so nobody can say they suck at making movies again (because for the longest time in the early 2000s, they did suck; Dinosaurs, Home on the Range, Chicken Little).  Would Not Recommend.

Monsters University (2013)  Why did you do this, Pixar?  Why did you take one of your best movies and do this specifically to it? Nobody asked for this, nobody wanted this.  I can only applaud them for having integrity enough to NOT give people what they wanted; people wanted a sequel, and that would have bee terrible.  You can’t follow up on Monsters, Inc, it had a perfect ending, it was hopeful and heart warming and definitive.  A prequel is the only thing they could have made without messing up the ending of the original, so I’ll give them some credit for that.  It’s not good.  Would Not Recommend.

Inside Out (2015) Their best one since Toy Story 3.  Not terrible, I actually liked a lot of things about this one.  I like it when Pixar takes on more serious subject matter, and I thought they did a good job exploring how a kid would react to such a drastic lifestyle change.  The cast was good, the animation was fun (inside Riley’s head; outside was generic and samey).  Not bad Pixar, not bad at all.  Would Probably Recommend.

The Good Dinosaur (2015) It doesn’t matter what i think because this movie still made hundreds of millions of dollars.  Disney is losing no sleep over this.  Would NOT Recommend.

Finding Dory (2016) Again with the continuations!  This was better than Monsters University, but the original was still such a hard act to follow.  It had potential, and I liked how it respectably handled mental illness in a way that was easy for kids to understand without dumbing it down and underplaying its significance in the lives of those who it effects.  I think Marlin kinda regressed, having to relearn what he already learned in the first one. The hardest I laughed was during the climax, the truck chase scene, “It’s a Wonderful World,” just amazing.  Would Probably Not Recommend

Cars 3 (2017) I hope Disney was happy with this end product.  I hope the producers really enjoyed cashing their toy checks for this one.  I thought it was worse than Cars 2, but I can see why some people might like it more.  Either way, it’s worse than Cars 1, which wasn’t particularly great anyway.  Would NOT Recommend.

Coco (2017) I’m on the fence with this one.  It was beautifully made, and the songs made me cry, but it’s hard for me to look at this movie without judging it as a product made by a focus group of mostly white people.  By itself it’s a good movie, but when you know how the Disney sausage is made it feels disingenuous and calculated.  Might Recommend, But it Had Some Baggage

The Incredibles 2 (2018)  I am Boo Boo the Fool, Pixar suckered me and I fell for it.  I was legitimately enthusiastic for this one because the original is one of their best, and unlike Monsters, Inc it actually left room for a sequel.  It had so much potential, and big shoes to fill, and it did so in the most generic Disney way it could.  Like Brave it wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great either.  Middle of the road, some things were fun, others made little sense, it was “appealing” in that it literally appealed to as wide an audience as it could without alienating anyone by doing anything particularly risky.  I liked Voyd, I liked how Helen became the main character, I liked the villain twist; I did not like how easy it was to make superheroes legal again.  It felt like it was tacked on at the end, like he just says “and there we have it, they’re legal again, congratulations,” like he was announcing the winner of the Price is Right.  Would Probably Not Recommend

Toy Story 4 (2019) I want to be clear that I made a point not to pay money to see many of the previous films on this list.  If I thought they were going to suck, I waited until a friend bought it and saw it with them for free.  This one, though, I was forced to pay for because my mom insisted on seeing it in theaters as a family.  It wasn’t terrible.  Wasn’t great.  Wash, rinse, repeat.  It was the same villain again; Stinky Pete, Lotso, Gabby-Gabby... I can’t wait for the fifth one where the villain is an old toy who is mad because they weren’t played with.  Buzz was made much dumber for this one, and I felt they didn’t do enough with Forky.  I was excited to see how they handled the existential aspects of the series; what makes a toy? How are toys sentient? Why are toys sentient? In the first movie Woody implied that there were rules that toys were honor bound to follow, so what is stopping Forky from blowing their cover on accident?  None of these questions were answered.  I liked Keanu Reeves, I didn’t like Key and Peele.  Would Probably Not Recommend.

The mighty have fallen.  It’s just sad. 

”Onward” looks kinda dumb, like a kiddy version of the flop Will Smith movie “Bright.”  I have no faith in this production company anymore, but I’m sure it will make hundreds of millions of dollars; the cast are fan favorites, including Disney’s favorite topical pet celebrities (because let’s be honest, Disney basically owns Tom Holland at this point.  Whether they own Spider-Man or not, they own Tom Holland, he is theirs, his soul contractually belongs to them).

Speaking of souls, ”Soul” will probably go over well with critics, though I can’t help but notice that their main character of color is transformed into a non-human for most of the movie.  Again.  I’m also not a fan of this one-word naming convention Disney has fallen into in the last decade.  “Brave” was originally titled “the Bear and the Bow,” but one-word titles seem to test well with kids.  Hopefully this will pass, but I’m not holding my breath.

I’m swearing off Disney movies, firsthand.  I might catch them second hand, through friends or other means, but I refuse to give this corporate conglomerate one more penny.  They basically own Hollywood, so my money will eventually make my way into their pockets, I just want to put as much distance between them and myself as possible.  No more Pixar, no more Star Wars, no more Marvel, no more Disney.  I am one drop in the bucket, I will not be missed, and they will not be affected in the slightest by my absence, but I need to prove to myself that I have integrity enough not to keep funneling my hard earned cash into a trillion dollar snack company.

Disney movies are snacks, not meals.  And I’m going on a diet.

Anyway, here’s my top three:

Monsters, Inc

The Incredibles

WALL-E

[comicteaparty]

April 6th-April 12th, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from April 6th, 2020 to April 12th, 2020.  The chat focused on  Adventurers’ Guild by Phillip MacArthur.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Adventurers’ Guild by Phillip MacArthur~! (https://adventurersguildcomic.com/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace until April 12th, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Discussions are freeform, but we do offer discussion prompts in the pins for those who’d like to have them. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic! Whether you finish the comic or can only read a few pages, everyone is welcome to join and chat with us!

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 1

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic?

2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)?

3. Who is your favorite character?

4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?

5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores?

7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content?

8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

RebelVampire

What I liked about the beginning of the comic was just the overall pacing. The comic really takes it's time to introduce the world to you and the first set of characters, and it kind of hits that right beat for me where there's a lot of information where I don't feel overwhelmed since the pacing slows to the right tempo to make it work. My favorite moment in the comic so far is probably the battle against Razoku. Without getting too specific, I love just how epic that fight was in general, and also that a character I didn't expect was down for the count for that fight, leaving everyone else to compensate. That is not something you see in stories everyday, plus I liked getting to see Jack do some work since Jack tagged along for the quest. My favorite character at the moment is probably Li, because I have a thing for enigmatic mysterious dudes who I know so little about. Plus, he's a sorceror and I always 1000% support magic classes. As for characters interacting, probably Klaus and Li. I love the hints that they really have some history here, and I like just kind of how they balance each other out. Like sometimes Li is dumb and Klaus is the smart one and then sometimes Klaus is dumb and Li is smart. And it goes on like this for a bunch of different traits, so I like that theyre both kind of on an even footing and that they have this bond and understanding the other characters don't have with them yet. So it's like this warm thing of comfort.

RebelVampire

What I like about the art is just kind of how well it emulates RPG pixel games. Especially how dialogue and other elements are handled to replicate the UI. It's a nice touch that really just kind of sells that whole game feel aesthetic. I liked that the comic explored the moral choice between helping someone vs. fulfilling your obligation. And the tangentially related "Is it okay to lie if it's a stupid noble who wants a thing for aesthetics and frivolous reasons?" Some pretty common themes, yet still important themes always worthy of discussion. I also liked how the noble knew the lie and still just accepted it anyway, since that was 100% now the outcome I was expecting. So it really takes the exploration of that theme a bit differently. What I like about the story is the same thing I like about the art: it really nails the game feel. Like I really do feel I've been watching just an epically long cutscene to some game, but as someone who does like games and RPGs, that really appeals to me. Honestly, I'd be excited to play this as an actual game so I could use Li and cast all the magic. As for the comic's strengths, game feel which I've already discussed. But in general, like the beginning, pacing. I've seen a few comics like this one, but for most the pacing usually isn't that great since pixel art really only allows for so much action to be depicted. So pacing for these things needs to be epically different than it does for most comics. I think this one really nails it, especially with combat. The comic really shows how the combat will be epic, but it doesn't try to pad it out either and just kind of embraces the limitations that come with this specific style.

warriorneedsfood

I am having a hard time engaging in the comic. The layout wasn’t very intuitive for me and it’s very small on my tablet. When I play old school rpgs I look past the interface to get to the story, but this comic embraces the format. It makes me wish the author made a game instead of the comic. However, I didn’t get very far on the first pass. I will be hunkering down with the comic later on this week to read it to get the whole impression of the story.

RebelVampire

Once I adjusted to the layout, I actually found it way easier for mobile personally.

Since I didn't really have to zoom or squint, and the panels were very responsive to touch controls

But it is definitely far from the standard so I can see it as a point of alienation

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Gotta say, never played this kind of game so this comic isn't really for me, but I did think the format was really unique and cool

I don't have any problems reading it on my phone

Feather J. Fern

I think this premise for the layout is really interesting. I actually think it would have done really well as actually an Instagram comic due to it's scroll, square shape.

I do also have to agree if this was an actual game done on RPG Maker or something, it would fit it a lot more. But I do love the feel it is giving me.

I do have to note that the font is making it hard for me to read, since that font isn't really good for me. My own personal problem though.

I can see why they went with that choice for the old RPG feeling

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 2

9. Why do you think Myra came to Knolton, and why is she hesitant to talk to even fellow Nemians about her backstory? Additionally, why is Jack equally mysterious about his origins? How do you think the truth will change the characters’ relationships with each other?

10. Do you think Klaus will allow Kidd to join the party? If so, how will that change the current group dynamic? Additionally, how will Cedric’s secrecy effect how much trust the other’s put in him?

11. How do you think Klaus and Li met, and for what reason do you think Li joined Klaus’ clan? Additionally, what do you think Li’s backstory might be in general? Do you believe there are secrets that might change how the group sees him, or is it something more mundane?

12. Do you think the group will see Edmund or anyone else they’ve faced against again? If so, what do you think will happen? In general, how will the group’s growing fame affect them and the quests they take on?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

RebelVampire

I feel like Myra probably got exiled or something. If only cause Myra does not seem like she'd have come to Knolton by choice, and you don't conceal your backstory unless you've got embarrassing shit to hide. I assume Jack might be in the same sort of situation. I actually think if Myra and Jack talked about it, though, it'd bring them closer together, as well as the whole group. The truth sets you free and all that. As for Kidd, yes, I think Klaus will let Kidd join. Klaus seems nice like that. As for group dynamic, I think it will simultaneously make Cedric a better and worse member of the group. I kind of feel if push came to shove, Cedric would ditch the others to save Kidd, making him unreliable. But at the same time, if Kidd goes with, Cedric would probably have increased loyalty. As for Cedric's secrecy, I think it'll be a long time before anyone fully trusts him again. I get the impression that Klaus must of met Li when Li was down on his luck, and since Klaus was such a bro and a friend, of course he joined. As for Li's backstory, I actually don't have any theories, although I kind of feel Li is less secret cause of something to hide but more maybe no one asks. Though I'm sure there is at least one secret in there that will make the audience gasp. I do think the group will at least see Edmund again because Edmund seemed an important and noteworthy character who'd come back. I could also see silver lotus noble coming back for silver lotus part 2 only now its a gold lotus. Either way, in regards to Edmund, of course theyre going to fight, though I feel like someone will try to convince Edmund to join their part instead, which Edmund might be convinced somehow. In general, though, their group is definitely gonna attract big baddies and great evil, cause fame comes at a cost.

GuildmasterPhill

Hello, author of Adventurers' Guild here! Just want to chime in and say it's been a real pleasure to read all the analysis of my comic here. It's good to see some of you really getting into it, and I think this whole tea party thing is a wonderful idea. Adventurers' Guild's week is almost up, as I understand it, but I'll be around here for the last bit of it if anyone has any questions for me! (I'm REALLY cagey about storyline spoilers, though, so don't expect any of those!) Thanks again!

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 3

13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic?

14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

mathtans

Hi! Our modem died, so my internet capabilities are real limited at the moment. But I had a quick look at the start of the week and just wanted to say I think the format is really neat, since I see some back and forth debate about it. All the best with the comic!

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Jumping in late -- the tip about mobile reading helped, it also works on desktop if you put it in a narrow-enough window!

I like the intro, the comedy of "we've only stopped one thief, and technically the quest says it's plural", the awkwardness of Klaus trying to say "I have pointy ears, so that gives me some insight into the discrimination you face as a full-on catgirl" and Myra not having it. Reminds me of the tension in X-Men between the "normal-looking" mutants vs. the ones who are, say, blue and scaly.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Just got to the bit with the cat brothers, and Klaus's reaction is...puzzling. He did all that outreach and effort getting Myra and Cedric to join the party, even getting rejected by Cedric and then following him around until he was talked into joining...but now there's two people enthusiastically volunteering to join, and Klaus is shooting them down?

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

I mean, they were obviously shady, but it's not clear why he was so convinced the others weren't. Maybe he just has Hero Plot Senses.

Seconding that I like the outcome of that arc, though! You think the party's just coming up with excuses for why they can slack off and do a second-rate job and not feel bad when they get away with it...and then, surprise, they don't get away with it, but it turns out their excuses were right and they don't have to feel bad about it.

Won't be surprised if it comes back to bite them down the line, though. Say, that noble uses it to make a fake healing potion, then lets a rival die while appearing to make all efforts to treat them.

And on to the next traveling montage! I like the lighting/colors in the campfire effect, but I feel like it should be built with squares and triangles rather than being a perfect ellipse, so it fits with the rest of the tile-based scenery. (Which is very cool and well-done in general.)

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Unrelated to anything, I do love when Myra's sprite does cat-poses.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

All caught up (full disclosure, I skimmed through some of the long battle sequences). One burning question...is there ever going to be more than one female character in this world? Myra isn't just the only woman in the party -- all their other allies are guys, all the enemies are dudes, everyone who hires them for a quest is a man, every random encounter on the street is a bro, every NPC with a speaking line is a fella...

Two of the guys so far have talked about their mothers, but one mom was sick/asleep for her entire on-screen appearance, and the other hasn't been seen at all. (And she was presumed killed...is there some big underground conspiracy to poison and/or murder all the women in this world? That would also be a reasonable Backstory Thing for Myra to run away from...)

RebelVampire

I am most looking forward to learning more about Li's backstory here and seeing all of the components that make Li awesome. My final words are is that I really love how unique this comic is with its presentation. It really stands out against contemporary styles and just overall, was an entertaining read. The comic feels like a true passion project and that really shines through, and while it may not be everyone's cup of tea, it didn't have any of the problems I usually find in most modern comics. So I was glad for that

GuildmasterPhill

To answer your question, @Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn) , yes there will be more woman characters--do not worry. ^^

@RebelVampire Thank you so much for all the comments, you seem very insightful! I certainly hope you will continued reading as I go onward.

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Adventurers’ Guild this week! Please also give a special thank you to Phillip MacArthur for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Adventurers’ Guild, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: https://adventurersguildcomic.com/

Phillip’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GuildmasterPhill

Phillip’s Store: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/adventurersguild/

Phillip’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/GuildmasterPhil

[pengychan]

[Coco] There Was Only One Bed

Title: There Was Only One Bed Summary: Héctor and Imelda hadn't expected a half-naked Ernesto to climb through their window just when the night was getting interesting, but they could adapt.  [Written for the Coco Locos Smut Off contest. The prompt: “I know, I’m quite impressive… why are you laughing?”] Characters: Ernesto de la Cruz, Héctor Rivera, Imelda Rivera. Threesome. Rating: Explicit.

A/N: I wrote this for the Smut Off contest organized by the Coco Locos Discord server - just that of course I had to stay anonymous until the voting was over and couldn’t post it here. Until now.  (Somehow managed to snatch Favorite Fanon Entry and came second in Best Quality and Smuttiest and am kinda reeling. Head over to Ao3 to read all the entries cause there is so much Good Shit. Art is by Dara who keeps being a gift.)

***

When she heard something hitting the window, Imelda ignored it for several reasons.

First of all, it may very well be a bird, or a figment of her imagination. Secondly, the weight of her husband kept her pinned down on the bed. And third, she had absolutely no intention to get rid of said weight - not with his cock hot and hard against her thigh and her so wet and willing and pretty damn impatient.

“Héctor,” she nearly snarled, trying to buckle her hips to get his cock prodding where it ought to be rather than the inside of her left thigh. It slid across the skin, hot and slick. Héctor looked down at her innocently.

“Sí, mi amor?” he asked, all sweetness and light. She smacked his chest.

“You know what I want.”

“Maybe I want to hear you say--” he began, only to trail off when Imelda grabbed his face and pulled it close to hers. She stared into his eyes, feeling like she was about to catch fire.

“I want you to fuck the soul out of my body,” she spelled out. The surprised expression turned into a smile that was almost dreamy. If he tried to play innocent again, next thing she’d grab and squeeze would be his cock.

Thankfully, that was not needed. He kissed her nose, and positioned himself between her thighs - the tip of his cock just about prodding her entrance. “Right away, mi vida,” he murmured, and she sighed in relief, grasping his shoulders and anticipating the heat, the stretch, that moment of bliss as he filled--

Thump.

That sound again, louder - something hitting the glass almost hard enough to crack it, causing Héctor to wince and pull away. Imelda could have screamed with frustration, and Héctor went to the window before she could do so herself and yell something down at… whoever was having fun throwing rocks at the glass, really. A bunch of kids, probably, or worse--

“... Ernesto?”

Wait, what?

As Héctor opened the window, Imelda rolled her eyes. Oh, for God’s sake - what did that idiota want? If he thought they’d let him in, he was sorely mistaken. When they’d arrived to perform at a celebration in the next town over - it was unusual for her to come along, but Héctor had insisted that they could use a woman’s voice as well, and Imelda couldn’t resist his puppy dog eyes - he’d had a chance to book a room of his own at the inn for the night, but shrugged it off.

“I’ll find another accommodation for the night,” he’d said, with a grin that spelled clearly he expect to find entertainment , too. “I always do.”

And had left with a woman, yes… but now something seemed to have gone very, very wrong.

“What-- where’s your shirt?” Héctor was asking, causing Imelda to still, sitting on the edge of the bed. The night air coming from the window was far from cold, but still chilly on her heated skin. Ernesto’s voice drifted in, sounding just a little frantic.

“No time to explain! Let me in!”

“Huh… entrance of the inn is on the other-”

“Throw a rope, I’ll climb up!”

“Why would I have a rope in here?”

“Then throw me the sheets! Ayúdame!” Ernesto’s voice rose, now definitely more frantic - and was followed by something else: a man screaming, still in the distance but not too far away.

“Come back, hijo de puta!”

Héctor leaned a little further out of the window. “Who was--”

“Someone who’s going to cut off my cojones if you don’t let me in now!” Ernesto snapped, and oh, Imelda was starting to see what was going on. With a roll of her eyes she stood, wrapped the sheets around herself, and went to the window beside Héctor to look down.

Ernesto was, indeed, missing his shirt. And his jacket, and his hat - just about anything except the trousers, really. His hair was tousled, and he looked more than a little terrified.

“I take it she was married?” she spoke, resting her elbow on the windowsill and her chin on her palm. It occurred to her only later that she’d shown at the window still flushed and aroused, hair down her bare shoulders, only covered by a sheet. She was much too amused to even think of it, or to notice the brief moment Ernesto’s panic faded into slack-jawed surprise, eyes widening just a little.

A moment interrupted by another cry, likely coming from somewhere in a nearby street.

“Be a man and show yourself, you coward! I’ll cut off your cock and--”

“He came home early,” Ernesto said quickly, and reached to put his hands on the wall below their window, like he somehow hoped to be able to climb it. It wasn’t a long way, but he couldn’t possibly climb it without a boost, or something to hold onto. “Let me in!”

“-- shove it up your--!”

Héctor raised an eyebrow. “Was it worth it?”

“Héctor!”

With a chuckle, Héctor turned to give her an apologetic look. “Can’t let him be torn to pieces.”

“No?”

“Amigos help their amigos. I’m going to need the sheets.”

Imelda sighed, but she did step away from the window to shrug the sheets off, and handed it to Héctor. “Go save your dumb friend,” she said, giving his ass a smack before she went to pick up her nightgown from the ground, and put it back on with a sigh. It was not an appropriate state of dressing for any man who was not her husband to see her in, but at the moment she couldn’t bring herself to care. She was still wet and aroused, which would be taken care of as soon as Ernesto was out of their room - because, of course, he was not going to stay in there more than-

“Ooof! How many tacos did you eat?”

“Chingate.”

“Can you push yourself up?”

“No I can’t, this damn wall is smoother than your ass.”

“Nice to see my ass is always in your thoughts,” Héctor grunted, and Imelda turned back to see him leaning out of the window, ass in question in the air. A very pleasant sight and yes, she could confirm it was smooth. Nice to sink her nails into, too. Which had been precisely the plan until that idiota showed up. “All right, give me your hand and I’ll pull-- whoa!”

“Héctor!” Imelda grabbed her husband’s torso just on time before he went right out of the window, legs kicking in the air. She wasn’t precisely heavy herself, but it thankfully was enough to hold him down, and he gave a long sigh of relief.

“Gracias,” he croaked once he managed to get back in the room, still holding on his stupid friend, a foot braced against the wall. “Hang in there, Ernesto!”

“What does it look like I’m doing? Pull me up!”

“You’re heavy!”

“Well some of us have some muscle on our bon--”

“I SAID COME OUT, BASTARDO!”

This time it was closer, and more of a bull’s bellow than a human voice; Imelda could easily guess the guy had to be big. Ernesto’s own voice, on the other hand, suddenly got comically high-pitched.

“Pull me up pull me up--!”

Acting out on instinct, Imelda leaned out the window, grabbed Ernesto’s other hand - the one still grasping at the sheets - and pulled, just as Héctor did. She found herself stumbling back on the floor, and something heavy fell on top of her.

On top of both her and Héctor, really.

“Oof!”

“Ow!”

“I meant, pull me up gently, Héctor!”

“Ay, hijo de-- get off me, I need to kick you back down--”

“WHERE ARE YOU HIDING??”

That voice again, almost directly beneath the window by the sound of it, caused all three of them to fall silent and go very, very still. Imelda was still reeling too much for their current position to really sink in, but she was aware of Héctor holding his breath beside her and of Ernesto’s heart thumping rabbit-quick in his chest, pressed up to her own.

“What the hell is going on?”

“There are people trying to sleep here!”

“Go yell somewhere else!”

More voices rose up, and there was an argument, violent but short-lived. With a sound that reminded her again of a bull, the man seemed to turn around and leave; there were windows slamming shut and, for a few long moments, there was only silence.

Broken, of course, by Ernesto.

“Madre de Dios,” he muttered, and went limp as tension left his body, burrowing his face in the small space between her shoulder and Héctor’s. He heaved out a long sigh. “That was close.”

Héctor chuckled. “And what do we say?”

“Gracias.”

“... What, just like that? And here I expected an argument. Just how big was that gu--”

“Get off us.”

Imelda’s order came out as a hiss mainly because she couldn’t draw the breath to speak much louder. She wanted to blame Ernesto’s weight on her - and maybe it was part the reason - but the truth was that she was just beginning to wrap her mind around their position and, more worryingly, her current state.

She’d been aroused to the point of frustration when she and Héctor had been interrupted and now… well, she still was. With danger gone - was that sort of excitement to blame, too? - she was all too aware of the heat pulsing between her legs, the prickle at her skin, the sensitive hardness of her nipples beneath the cotton nightgown… and beneath the bare chest of someone who definitely should not be bare chested in her presence.

Or just not in her presence.

“Huh?” Ernesto lifted himself up on his elbows, and looked down at her questioningly - close, much too close - before his eyes widened and he immediately pulled away, sitting back against the wall. Imelda instinctively reached to take the sheet from the floor to cover herself, but Héctor snatched it first and thrown it over his groin. Given that he was stark naked, it was… fair.

Had she taken a closer look Imelda might have noticed, despite the bunched-up sheets, that he was still quite hard as well as naked, but she did not: suddenly, all she could do was stare at Ernesto - who glanced back at her, unsure for a moment, and then suddenly turning coy.

“I know, I’m quite impressive… why are you laughing?”

Imelda tried to reply, but all that left her was more laughter, joined by Héctor’s. While she slapped a hand on her mouth - the laughter left her in a honk through her nose - her husband pointed at Ernesto.

“Hahah! Look-- pffft! Look down!”

“What are you two-- oh.”

For a few moments he stared at the traces of red lipstick on his skin and over his nipples, turning them cherry red. He stared, blinked, looked back at them… and burst out laughing.

“Pfffft--!”

“Hahahahahah--”

“HAHAHAHA!”

“You really-- hahaha! You really got going before he came back, huh?”

“HAH! I was lucky to get away with my trousers on!”

There was more laughter as Ernesto went to the basin to splash some water on the smears, wiping them off with a cloth - then, he sighed. “Ay, I was hoping for a night of passion and now I have to sleep on a cold floor,” he muttered dramatically, making Héctor snicker and Imelda scowl.

“You’re not sleeping on the floor.”

Ernesto raised an eyebrow. “Offering me the bed? That’s generous--”

“You’re not sleeping in this room!”

“What?” He had the nerve to look offended. “Why not? I must hide!”

“Get your own room!”

“The inn is full!”

“Then run fast!”

“What’s the problem if I sleep on the floor?”

Normally, Imelda would have just repeated her order to get out, because she owed him no explanation. But she was still wet, her sex throbbing, her skin feverishly warm and not because of the outburst. “We’re busy in here!” she snapped, and Ernesto blinked, turning to Héctor - who sat at the edge of the bed, sheets bunched over his groin and otherwise still naked.

“Busy? What’s she… talking…” he paused, glanced back at her, and finally it seemed to dawn on him, like he was only now noticing Héctor’s nakedness and her dishevelled hair. “... Ah.”

“Good, you got it,” Imelda scoffed. Under normal circumstances she might have been embarrassed, but she refused to be. Why should she? She was there with her husband, in an inn they had paid to stay in. Ernesto was the one who’d barged in, half-naked and panting, skin as warm as her own aaaand no, wait, that was not where her line of thought was supposed to go. “Leave.”

Ernesto stared at her, apparently still dumbfounded by the revelation two married people would have sex, then he worked his jaw and scowled, crossing his arms. If she'd been wearing any sort of footwear, Imelda would have thrown it at him.

"What, I'm supposed to go out in the cold--"

"It's Spring, don't tell me you can't handle it. And besides--"

"-- at risk of being caught and castrated--"

"-- you kind of deserve it, don't you think?"

“-- just so that you two can fuck?”

“That’s precisely what I’m saying!”

“Forget about it! I’m going nowhere!”

“You’re not going to ruin the night!”

"Quit pretending you're missing out anything! If he satisfied you, you wouldn’t be this difficult all the time!"

Oh no he didn’t.

"Wait, what?" Héctor screeched in the face of that low blow. "I'll have you know--"

"He fucks just fine," Imelda cut him off, glaring daggers at Ernesto. Her blood rushed in her ears, her skin was warm and oh, God, she’d never wanted to be ravished more in her life and that idiota refused to leave.

Far from intimidated, he glared back. “I could do better.”

“As if,” Imelda snorted. Her dismissive tone seemed to hit Ernesto like a slap to the face.

“I can do better!”

“You wish.”

“I’d make you forget your own name!”

“Hah! I'd like to see that!”

“Me too,” Héctor blurted out, and whatever retort Ernesto was about to utter died in his throat. The look of utter bewilderment he gave her would have been funny, if not for the fact Imelda was just as stunned. She blinked back at him before they both turned, slowly, to silently look at Héctor.

He stared back at them with wide eyes, as though he couldn’t believe what he’d just uttered. His face was red, and both hands pressed against his mouth - which of course had caused the sheets he’d been holding over his groin to fall on the floor. His cock was just as hard as it had been while she was beneath him, the tip wet and dark. As Imelda’s gaze shifted to it - and not her gaze only, she’d realize later - Héctor let out a shriek and grabbed the sheets to cover himself, again.

“Sorry-- I’m sorry! I was just. Thinking aloud,” Héctor babbled. “S-so, how about we just--”

“Wait, would you really?” Ernesto spoke up suddenly. His voice was mostly firm, but not entirely. Héctor looked at him with the wide eyes of someone who is trying to look innocent and only looks all the more guilty.

“Would I what?”

"See us, uh..." Ernesto cleared his throat, and glanced down at Imelda - who, from her part, felt remarkably like she'd been encased in ice... all while being on fire within. "You know."

Under normal circumstances, Imelda might have attempted to physically and violently remove Ernesto from their room - possibly via the window - for just suggesting a such thing... but those were not, in any way, normal circumstances. Héctor had blurted out as much, and she found that despite knowing she ought to be outraged she just... wasn't.

What she was, at the moment, was still wet and open and sort of desperate for something to do done about it, like an itch she just had to scratch before she went crazy.

“... Would you, Héctor?” Imelda asked, her voice oddly distant to her own ears.

He fidgeted with the sheets, and despite the awkwardness there was a spark of something in his eyes - raw desire she did not miss. "It was-- well-- just an idea. A terrible idea!" he added quickly. "You know what, let's forget it and just... just sleep, sí? It's been a long day, and we're all tired, so it would be best to... to... Imelda?"

"What are you doing??"

It was hard to say whose voice was shrillier, and truth be told she didn’t care. All she cared about was the heat, the throbbing want that had to be sated, there and then. Rational thought flying out of the window she should have left Ernesto out of, Imelda pulled the nightgown up over her head and let it fall on the floor.

The warm night air felt cool, giving her goosebumps; her nipples were almost painfully hard, but she made an effort to keep her expression neutral, turning to face Ernesto. He stared at her with wide eyes, jaw slack like he’d just seen her grow wings, which gave her no small amount of satisfaction… but not the sort of satisfaction she was after at the moment.

“Well?”

“I--” he choked out, eyes wandering over her body - was it her, or they had widened even more? - before he looked past her, at Héctor. “En serio?”

Imelda turned to her husband, too; their gazes met and held. His eyes moved slowly from her to Ernesto, and then back to her; in the faint light of the candle, which flickered and cast deep shadows over his body - so tall and sinewy, utterly different from Ernesto’s own. He licked his lips, and spoke in a whisper.

“... If you want.”

And she did want… not necessarily Ernesto specifically, but something - a cock in her, for heaven’s sake - to take away that throbbing ache, the fire that had been ignited and had yet to be put out. And she wanted it to happen while Héctor watched-- while he held her, and whispered in her ear, telling her what he saw, how he saw her.

The sense of heat in her loins was enough to make her knees weak. When she spoke, her own voice was hoarse. “You won’t let me go one moment.”

“Never,” Héctor breathed, and that sealed it. Imelda turned back to Ernesto to see he was still gaping; his eyes paused on her breasts before she spoke, and then met her gaze. He had never looked so confused… but that confusion was giving way to something else she had never seen on his face before, a hunger that matched their own.

“If you want to get out,” she said, knowing full well he would not, “this is the moment.”

Ernesto’s lips curled in a breathless smile. “I’m going nowhere.”

“Good,” she stepped forward, acutely aware of her nakedness - of how forbidden all of this was, no other man but her husband was supposed to see her, let alone touch her - and looked at him, really looked, for the first time. His chest was deep as Héctor’s was thin, his shoulders broad, his neck thick. When she rested a hand over that chest - he was warm, just like Héctor - she felt it shuddering with a hitching breath. She smiled. “This will never leave this room.”

Ernesto chuckled. “No one would believe me,” he said. “Por Dios, I don’t believe it.”

Imelda smirked, and let her hand wander down to his stomach before grabbing his belt. Ernesto hissed, and the reason why was clear; his trousers were quite tight, the bulge obvious.

“I doubt you’re as good as you think you are.”

“I’ll prove you wrong.”

He had better, Imelda thought, after the headache he threatened to give her. “Get this off you.”

Ernesto’s hands went to undo his belt so fast that Imelda might have laughed, if not for the arms that suddenly circled her - the warmth of Héctor’s chest against her back, the slick hardness of his cock against her skin, his mouth on her neck and his hands cupping her breasts. His thumbs brushed over her nipples, causing her to shiver and lean back against him.

“Imelda,” he murmured, making her name alone sound like a prayer. Another open-mouthed kiss against her neck, and one of his hands - so calloused against her skin - went down her stomach, to her thigh and finally, finally between her thighs. She was dripping wet, and his fingers slipped easily in her.

He curled them, just a little, and pressed his thumb against her clit, turning her sigh into a moan. There was a jolt, a shudder, and her knees failed her; Héctor’s arm around her was what kept her from crumbling. Within moments she was on the bed, her husband still holding her close, back to his chest and cock pressing against her back - it would have been so very pleasant if not for the fact she was now painfully empty; the heat that had been throbbing in her sex had turned into desperate need.

“Christ.”

Ernesto sounded breathless, and Imelda opened her eyes to see him staring down at them, breathing fast. He was naked as well, and hard-- it was the first time Imelda saw him like that, and she let her gaze wander across his body, grudgingly conceding that she could, perhaps, sort of guess what was it that so many women saw in him. His cock was shorter than Héctor’s, but thicker, and it suddenly hit her - she was going to have another man in her, as her husband watched him take her.

The mere idea should have probably given her a stroke, but Imelda only felt all the more aroused and curious, in a way. She tilted back her head and stared, dizzy with want, as Ernesto knelt between her legs, gripping her hips, breathing fast. There was the first difference, she thought - how much broader than Héctor he was, how she had to spread her legs wider to get them on each side of him.

“You’re-- fine with this?” Ernesto repeated, his voice husky, eyes moving from her to Héctor.

Imelda felt him nodding, resting his cheek on her hair, a hand on her stomach and the other still kneading her breast. “S-sí. Imelda…?”

As a response, she buckled her hips against Ernest’s hand, which had slipped on her upper thigh. “Get on with--” she began, and suddenly his fingers were in her, thicker than Héctor’s, sliding in easily because ah, God, she had rarely been so wet in her entire life. He pressed in, curling his fingers and causing her to shudder and clench; she felt her own slickness on his hand when he pulled them out, lifted her hips, and pushed in.

“Oh--!”

What left her was half a sigh, half a moan, and was quickly swallowed by Héctor’s lips on hers in a deep kiss. She grasped his hair, keeping their mouths joined, head spinning at the contrast - the familiarity of the kiss and the entirely new experience of Ernesto’s cock in her, the difference in thickness and texture, the way it slid in her, how it stretched her a little wider than she was used to and hit different spots.

There was a groan somewhere above her, and Ernesto paused, but was not still; she could feel every minute movement, every twitch, and she clenched around him to get a gasp out of him. Her mouth was still joined with Héctor’s, but the message - move - was clear.

“... You asked for it,” Ernesto panted, and pulled back just a moment before he pushed back in, hard, swift, deep. It was like a jolt, white-hot pleasure up her spine that tore a cry out of her. Her head jerked back against Héctor’s shoulder as she gasped for air, gazing up at Ernesto, half-expecting a smirk - but he wasn’t smirking, oh no. He shared down at her and Héctor with wide eyes, moving fast; he snapped his hips forward and pulled back, all his strength behind each thrust, his movement so fluid despite it.

Each thrust pushed her back against the solid warmth of Héctor’s chest, breasts shuddering back and forth, making the old bed creak - joining the steady thump of flesh against flesh, the slick-wet noises. It gave her pleasure and yet built up the need for release, in a crescendo that left her gasping, clinging to Héctor’s arm, wrapping her legs around Ernesto’s waist. Maybe she’d ache the next day, but right there and then she didn’t care, as she didn’t care that what she was doing - what they were doing - was at the very least shameful.

What kind of woman let a man she’s not married to take her? What kind of man allowed it?

Doesn’t matter, it’s us, what we want, our secret. No one will know.

“Diosa,” Héctor breathed against her ear. His breath was so warm-- he was so warm, Ernesto was warm, the cock in her seemed to burn and the very air she breathed was hot enough to scorch her throat. Her heart hammered in her chest, blood rushed through her ears, and Imelda threw back her head against Héctor’s shoulder, feeling like she could drown.

He kissed her temple, his own breath coming in gasps. He was still hard against her back, smearing precome across her skin. “You’re beautiful-- this is beautiful, mi amor, mi vida,” he rasped, stroking her hair. The hand fondling her breast trailed down across her stomach, and to her sex, where Ernesto’s cock was buried. His fingers circled her clit, so lightly, almost teasingly. It tore a whine out of Imelda’s throat, and Ernesto laughed breathlessly above her.

“I could ask-- which one of us just caused that,” he panted, causing Imelda to really look at him for the first time since he’d begun thrusting into her. In the candle light she could see his face was flushed, his lips parted, his skin slick with sweat. She could see his muscles working, and it wasn’t a bad sight at all. She would take Héctor’s lithe body any day - his gentleness, the whispered words, the devotion in his eyes - but for one night only… yes, it could do.

“Does it matter?” she resped, forgetting for a moment of the challenging words that had started it all… but it was fine, because it seemed Ernesto had pushed it out of his mind, too. He smiled.

“No. No, it-- ay, Héctor, what--” he let out a gasp, and Imelda looked down to see Héctor’s fingers had slipped over his cock as it pulled out of her and then back in, rocking against her.

She stared, transfixed, at the cock half-buried in her - the way she stretched over it, how Héctor’s fingers glided across it, tracing a vein, slick with her juices. He chuckled - “amigos help their amigos” - before he moved his thumb back to her clit  and pressed down, hard.

“Ah--!”

She was almost there, God, almost there, pleasure coiling up in her loins, making her shudder violently and clench around Ernesto. He moaned, too, and leaned forward to press his mouth on her breast, moist warmth against her nipple just as he drove deeper, and Héctor’s fingers pressed in harder, and he kissed her neck--

There was a moan, and for a few moments Imelda entirely lost sense of what was going on. All that she knew was that everything was so warm, that there was a cock thrusting fast into her, hands wandering across her body, mouths kissing and sucking marks across her skin. Her vision seemed to gray out for a moment, each muscle of her body locking up, and she would never know what it was, if the touch on her clit or the cock ramming her - but in the end, it did not matter. She was past caring about anything but pleasure and pleasure was what she got, a wave carrying her up and then crashing down, making her tremble and gasp, shudder and cling to Ernesto’s sweat-slicked shoulders and back, her nails leaving marks across it while his muscles worked beneath her palms. She called out Héctor’s name - or moaned something that sounded, vaguely, like his name.

“Imelda,” he choked out, and shuddered. His cock twitched against the small of her back and she felt him spill warm across her sweaty skin, heard his mumbled apology, but everything was fine - better than fine. Her hand grasped his hair, pulled his mouth down on hers, and they kissed deeply as she rode out her orgasm, clenching around Ernesto - who buckled into her a few more times and, suddenly, pulled out.

Something within her cried out for the loss of contact, but it was easily drown out by the lingering pleasure. Imelda watched, through half-lidded eyes, as Ernesto finished in the sheets, moaning through clenched teeth, chest rising and falling with each panting breath. As Héctor settled down with a pleased sigh, taking Imelda down with him, he glanced down at them, still kneeling.

She came before him, all right. He could have boasted about it; she could have retorted that Héctor had helped. They could have argued.

Except that neither of them wanted to.

“I--” Ernesto began, then drew in a deep breath, and licked his lips. “... I’m not sleeping on the floor.”

“No,” Héctor agreed, holding out his arm with a smile that was almost dreamy. Finally sated, Imelda felt rather sleepy herself. “But it’s a tight fit. Like the clothes I’ll lend you tomorrow, pendejo.”

Ernesto grinned. “I don’t mind terribly,” he muttered. He let himself fall down on them as he had at the window, less than a hour earlier; this time, as he wrapped his arms around both of them and they settled down, their breathing slowing, Imelda found she didn’t mind either. Not terribly, anyway.

After all, there was only one bed.

[smallgayblanket]

5 and 11 for the apocalypse squad? 👀

Guilty pleasures

Jackie:

Obviously, he feels guilty having any time/day off..so to have a day where he can lounge around is always kinda a guilty pleasure to him..I feel like something he often avoids is alcohol, and its usually a depression or a guilty pleasure to have a glass of something hard and rough to burn his throat.

Also if anyone makes a fruit cake he may quietly ask for a piece..

Marvin:

I totally see Marvin kinda guilty for being into hypnosis. Being the magician I think it ironic that he’d sit there and watch spirals just to unwind and chill out y’know? I also think he has a small pet shapeshifter that he hasn’t told anyone about and he secretly takes care of it in return for comfort.  aaand maybe collects candles and gems in various sizes and shapes and gets excited when he buys new ones but does it alone?

Really likes lavander scented stuff.

Also loves bubble baths with a face mask, buts that only if hes really needing a self spoil day. 

Henrik:

This man is a sucker for touches..someone come play with his hair and he’d melt, he’s in dire need of it but won’t admit it. He also sings in his office alone, but god forbid anyone caught him singing “ive been working on the rail road” while he files his papers..

He’s also a sucker for mint flavoured stuff. Those mint shell coated chocolate balls are his favourite. 

Chase:

I actually think Chase is secretly really fucking good at like comic book style art. Sketching in his spare alone times.

Course chilling out with a video game and some pizza is a huge pleasure but he’s not always guilty about it XD  

Lemon tarts are a special treat of his. 

Anti:

Well, asides pain..

He likes to listen to like 8bit sounding music and stuff, like the undertale theme and game themes, stuff like that. 

He also has a fondness for sour foods/green apple flavoured stuff and he’s never been sure why but it makes him happy.

Knives are always good.

Dumb but I think Jumper is one of his favourite movies just??..cause.. idk. 

Shawn:

A guilty pleasure for him is a bottle of whiskey and a walk out in the night. No work, no people just him and his bottle and his whistling tunes. 

Also one of his guilty pleasures is coming to Jameson’s bar for a drink..just to watch the other manhandle the bottles and do his magic. A small stupid thing, but for some reason Shawn holds it dear. 

Also I feel like he likes to bake? Breads and stuff, nothing sweet, but just making a nice fresh loaf would be a nice stress relief and fresh bread always tasted great, especially with his famous stews/broths. 

Jameson:

Jameson likes to read and do puzzles, but I also think he’s a sucker for dancing.  Its hard to get him on the dancefloor with anyone around but alone he has some very nice moves.

I also think he really likes cartoons, but because they’re childish feels silyl for watching them..however he loves the vibrant colours and that the characters are alot easier to read.  Plus he likes the escapism. (Though he does enjoy those old classics like Mary poppins and chitty chitty bang bang) As well as some detective shows. 

Liquorice has been a fav, despite some of the others thinking it gross. 

Robbie:

Robbie has a whole fucking stash of soft items and adores every one of them- its no secret really since everyone buys them and usually finds him buried in them but he loves making nests with all his soft stuff.

Sometimes he’ll also get embarrassed about his outfits too..some very soft and small and even a little feminine that he gets shy about. 

Also he mumbles n fidgets and likes to stim so playing with slime or toys or watching stim vids is a huge pleasure of his. Hes also just a huge cuddle slut. 

Robbie loves foam squishes the most.

Bad or petty habits

Jackie:

He tries really hard to stay even on everything, but often his sleep can fall out of whack being a hero and all. Sometimes he also gets more injured in fights then he should. Because hes kinda intoit .He also struggles with poor self-image on rare occasions. Also, he pushes himself hard- He’ll just push and push until he finally crumbles and he has no energy left. Which takes alot because he has a fuck ton of energy.

Marvin:

Dealing with dangerous magic and getting hurt is a big number one..also he doesn’t always take proper care of himself and occasionally dabbles in self-harm. Both for the thrill and the fear of not being able to feel anything during the waves when feels unwanted n ignored. 

Henrik:

Horrid diet and absurd amount of coffee drinking..his sleeping has never quite been enough and hes just ti red..

Also, he bites the edges of his glasses whenever he’s taken them off his face for closer inspection/idel thought when not looking at anything important. 

And he has some serious OCD for stuff. Hence why his office is so neat yet specifically organized and why hes extra stressed when its cluttered and messy… 

Chase:

Drinking obviously..and the bad thoughts that he should off himself..toying with guns and drowning in bottles of alcohol- sometimes questioning whether to down any bottles from the medicine cabinet..He also forgets to eat sometimes, and his chronic sleep condition paired with migraines can be a bitch to deal with and alot of his poor drinking and sleep habits make them worse. 

Anti:

Oof huh..Anti is a mess. He has a huge habit of isolating himself and not sharing or dealing with his emotions as he should. Also he toys with knifes which, yknow aint safe so he ends up with odd lil knicks and cuts. He bottles up alot of shit and none of its good for him but he struggles to open up to anyone about it.

He often feels alone and empty and that hurts.. 

Shawn:

Shawn man..He also tends to bury himself in work of making toys and ignoring everyone. Hard lad who doesn’t talk much about feelings and does get touchy easily at all which results in kinda being highly touch starved. He too drinks, forgets to eat and usually only sleeps when his body is at it’s limit and he cant keep his eyes open enough to work. 

Jameson

My lad Jameson here seriously seriously struggles with eating. He has anorexia, his ribs are far too viable, he’s very much like a twig, but it all stems from the pain in his throat.

Not to mention he talks despite his broken vocal cords- which is painful, but he doesn’t want to burden people with his sign language.

He also has an awful habit of being unable to say no, defiantly quite the passive polite Pisces. 

Robbie

Robbie, hes a pretty good boy..though he can struggle to listen. Sometimes he bites things he really should..eats things he shouldn’t and also tends to overindulge in foods which usually means a stomach ache. 

Other than that the others usually keep a good eye on him so he never struggles too bad, but he does sometimes wish he wasn’t so childlike n helpless. he tries his best to be helpful but he can get really lonely when the others are busy.. 

He’s also a wee bit clumsy and that’s meant some nasty bruises.

Oh and he chews his sleeves alot. 

[thattimdrakeguy]

Young Justice #10 review - How not to change a character’s identity.

This is finally the issue were Tim Drake becomes “The Drake” (or maybe just “Drake”), and honestly, it’s just lazy as could be. People were already fearing the issue, and it’s actually kind of worse than expected.

They made every bad choice they could’ve.

It is genuinely horribly done.

Most times when a character changes their identity it means something to that character. It’s a defining moment in their character evolution, and the name actually means something to that character.

Nightwing came from Dick Grayson trying to find himself as he grew up. Gaining the name from a trusted friend who told him a story from his home-world, that helped give Dick Grayson inspiration.

The Red Hood came from Jason Todd literally getting killed by Joker, a person that formerly went by the Red Hood. The name was practically a taunt, but an emotionally charged one that was connected to Jason’s story.

With this name  and costume change, it means NOTHING.

They don’t even explain where the suit comes from. He just shows up in it, and unless I missed it, no one even acts like anythings different, or brings up the costume at all.

Previously I just assumed the costume would spawn from a reasoning that had something to do with this Earth. To actually give a reason for it.

Like how a gang was insulting Tim’s colors.

But that gang that randomly attacked Tim in issue 8 went no where. Making the inclusion of them almost pointless besides world building, but in their defense, world building is important.

I have no idea why Tim thought it was important to change his costume, considering Earth 3 Drake pretty much wears a normal Robin costume.

Making the change in costume even more pointless and meaningless.

Costumes are meant to say something about the character in some shape or form. This costume has no introduction, no one brings it up, and it’s quality alone is shoddy. The colors stand for boring, and dull, in a few panels the red in it comes off almost as clashing, and the lack of any character-based details makes it terrible.

In the most objective way to consider the costume, even ignoring how Tim only wanted to be Robin, this costume was horribly made on the standards set by what costumes are supposed to do.

Costumes are suppose to tell you something about the character.

Tim’s last costume showed he was a boyish, tech based, ninja. Due to character details like short sleeves, built in tech, and ninja toes. Those details showed exactly what his character is, but this new one doesn’t come off like that. The new costume says absolutely nothing.

The logic of Tim choosing the new name is also completely horrible. He has no reason to change his name. Bart just started saying he should change his name to “Drake”. Why? I don’t think he actually says.

Why would Tim want to change his name to match someone who wants to kill him and is evil? Logically, he shouldn’t.

Why would Tim want to change his name just because Bart told him to? Logically, he shouldn’t.

Why would Tim want to change his name while on an alternate Earth? Logically, he shouldn’t.

Why would Tim want to change his name at all considering his character? Logically, he shouldn’t.

Tim Drake’s character always said that if he stopped being Robin, he would stop being a hero. That only changed when he got kicked from the role and felt he still had to save Bruce.

So now that he’s Robin again, why would he leave that role? He finally got back to being Robin like how he wanted, which actually felt good, but they never even explained why he was Robin again. In fact they implied he was still Red Robin, despite all the marketing and character’s saying he was Robin. Causing a massive inconsistency with just that.

It’s just plain out of character for him to change his name, and one of the biggest flaws you can ever make when writing a story of any kind is having one of your characters, especially one of the main characters, act out of character.

The name as well, while using the characters’ own logic, is out of character.

Tim Drake was always told to keep his secret identity hidden from EVERYONE. Even Barbara Gordon didn’t know Tim’s name until Batman told her (although that was mostly because Tim thought it was cool Babs knew Superman’s real name but not his).

In 90s Robin there was an issue were Stephanie Brown as the Spoiler comes close to finding out Tim’s identity. If Tim Drake went by the superhero name “Drake” and she cared enough to search harder, it would only make it that much easier to find out what his real name is.

You could say that the name is so dumb that’s why it’s so great, because anyone trying to figure out their identities wouldn’t expect them to be that dumb, but when the Bat-Family is so protective of their identities, why would they ever take the risk? That’s out of character.

This isn’t the only way this issue was lazy either. This issue constantly uses singular panel pages, as if they’re just trying to fill up space.

There are 4 entire pages dedicated to just one panel. In a 22 page comic, that means there’s only 18 or so pages that don’t go to mostly waste.

When you have a page like that, it’s suppose to be exciting. The first issue of Wonder Comics Young Justice used them excellently, but also, they had 44 pages I believe. So they worked well with the pages they had to tell the story.

In this issue they just overused them, like they were just getting lazy. It feels like a comic that was written during a hangover. Something Bendis might’ve done last minute when he realized he forgot to write the script.

Regardless if that’s not the case, that’s what it feels like.

The dialogue by itself isn’t much either. Mostly feeling rushed as could be, or only generic funny moments.

This is an issue, written of the quality of a comic that knows it’s going to be cancelled. I don’t think that’s the literal case for Young Justice, but that’s the vibe it gives off. It’s written so lazily, like it knows there’s no point, but it’ll use cheap publicity stunts like changing a character’s identity to get any sort of attention it can get.

However one thing the issue does really well, is establish why Jinny sticks out and is important.

It actually makes me want to read a Jinny Hex solo adventure, because Bendis seems much more interested in her than the rest of the team.

Like I love this snarky, queer, magically teched out, cowgirl.

I’ve never been more disappointed by a comic in general in my entire life though.

The first issue of this series capped off like the original series never ended it. It felt right at home, from the art style, the costumes, the writing, the energy, the fast pace. They really captured the magic of Young Justice. That first issue felt so genuine.

In this: the art style was changed due to there being a new and unfitting artist, they’re already changing the costumes to stuff much blander, the writing has become forced and rushed, the energy is zapped, and the pacing is so bizarre because of the constant usage of single pages.

If you want spoilers on the only events in the current day Earth 3 story, here you go: They fight Earth 3 Young Justice (Young $#@%ers? I guess.), Jinny finally uses her magical items, they win, they go back home.

In the flashback story of Jinny: She gets cheated on, we find out she’s a natural hero, we get a sense of her family’s history, and we finally learn more about the mystery of the chest.

There’s so much more character building involved, and she gets to feel like a real fully fleshed out person because of that.

--

If you wanna see the best bit of character usage in the main story, and I’m not being sarcastic when I say I like this part. Is this:

As simple as it is, it uses Tim’s character and the world around him to make a simple moment actually be pretty funny, because it uses the basics of character writing.

Compared to the rest of the Earth 3 story’s over-usage of cheap generic dialogue that anyone could say, and while you could argue anyone could say “Noooo... thank you.” like Tim did in the above panel, it works best with Tim because he’s already been shown as the most awkward, yet moralistic member of the team.

It actually uses his character.

--

I think the above panel is a good showing at the weird choice Bendis has made.

Earth 3 Steph is a more fleshed out character with a purpose than pretty much the entire Young Justice team in this story. When this is only the second story in this run of Young Justice.

Shouldn’t it be more important to keep fleshing out and focusing on the team itself? 

It doesn’t even feel like this is the first time these characters been together in a long time. They act as if they never been separated. Conner being stranded on Gemworld were he helped raise a kid doesn’t feel like it ever happened anymore. It affected nothing. It feels ignored. It makes the comic feel disjointed just from the last story arc.

Young Justice’s dialogue is almost entirely generic. Practically anyone could say what they have, and it would work just as well. There’s no character put into them, besides maybe Bart being immature and mouthy, but the whole team besides possibly Tim when he has his brain cell on is pretty immature and mouthy, and even then, Tim isn’t Captain of maturity, he mostly just forces himself to be because he felt obligated to be leader, he’s still a doofus kid.

--

An issue should never be written as badly as the Earth 3 story in this.

While the Jinny Hex story is actually really well-written as far as character building is concerned, the Earth 3 story is bottom of the barrel as far as quality goes, and that’s the story that actually has the whole team involved.

Bad dialogue, horrible out of character identity change, bad usage of page space, bizarre pacing, lack of story that actually feels worth paying attention too

This issue would personally be given a 3/10, and that 3 only comes from Jinny’s story being quite well written as a character piece.